A second horrific mass killing in just two weeks has plunged Trinidad and Tobago into renewed outrage over the ruling administration’s failed national security policies, with senior opposition lawmakers demanding the immediate departure of the country’s top two security officials.
The latest tragedy unfolded in Belmont, where a triple shooting left a two-year-old child dead, two adult men killed, and a mother fighting for her life in critical care. This attack comes only 14 days after another mass shooting in Morvant that claimed four lives, including a nine-year-old child.
Stuart Young, opposition Member of Parliament for Port of Spain North/St Ann’s West, was among the first to issue a blunt call for resignations, targeting Minister of Defence Wayne Sturge and Minister of Homeland Security Roger Alexander. Young slammed the ruling Kamla Persad-Bissessar-led government over its singular approach to surging violent crime: repeated declarations of states of emergency (SoE).
“For most of this administration’s tenure, the country has been locked under some form of state of emergency,” Young noted. “We are now on the third iteration of a United National Congress state of emergency, and mass killings continue without any slowdown. This government has no actual plan to curb violence, and it is ordinary law-abiding citizens who bear the cost.” He called the killing of the innocent toddler “unforgivable,” adding that the government’s failure on national security is now undeniable to the entire population.
Young also lashed out at Phillip Alexander, a junior minister in the Ministry of Housing, over what he called a blatantly politicized Facebook rant targeting his Belmont constituents in the wake of the shooting. “This deranged official, paid by the prime minister using taxpayer dollars, is adding insult to injury for families already reeling from senseless loss of life,” Young wrote on his own Facebook page. “No amount of empty, foolish ranting from government officials will give citizens any sense of safety or reassurance right now.”
Kareem Marcelle, opposition MP for Laventille West, framed the back-to-back killings of children as part of a deeply alarming, terrifying trend that has numbed communities to unthinkable violence. “We have reached the point where even these heinous acts no longer shock us,” Marcelle wrote in a social media statement. “Our youngest children are being killed before they even get the chance to grow up and chase their dreams.”
Marcelle drew a direct line between the latest death and a recent child killing laid to rest just days prior: “Just this past Friday, we buried young J’Layna. Less than a week later, another family is now forced to bury two-year-old Akini, along with his unfulfilled dreams and hope for the future. My heart breaks for these families. We are heading down a road from which we cannot return if we do not act now.” He extended his deepest condolences to the loved ones of all three victims, and added his prayers for the wounded mother’s full recovery.
Marvin Gonzales, opposition MP for Arouca/Lopinot, joined the calls for Roger Alexander’s removal, describing the homeland security minister as an “embarrassment” and a “national failure” who has been distracted from his core duty of keeping citizens safe. Gonzales also pushed for an end to the ongoing state of emergency, arguing that the policy has become an empty charade. “As of 2026, we have spent 97 days under this current state of emergency, and the country has already recorded 130 murders this year,” he noted. “It is past time for the government to end this farce and restore the constitutional rights of the Trinidad and Tobago people.”