Trinidad and Tobago’s Attorney General John Jeremie has made a stunning disclosure during parliamentary debate on the 2026 Special Operations Bill: the man accused of ordering the assassination of State prosecutor Randall Hector has been in custody at Chaguaramas’ Teteron Barracks since last year. The revelation comes as the current Persad-Bissessar administration pushes for expanded powers to dismantle transnational criminal gangs that have terrorized the country for years, using the high-profile 2024 killing as a stark example of the failures of the previous People’s National Movement (PNM) government.
Hector, a 43-year-old veteran prosecutor with deep experience targeting organized crime, was gunned down in a meticulously planned attack on New Year’s Eve 2024, just moments after he left a year-end church service at Port of Spain’s Stanmore Avenue Seventh Day Adventist Church. According to Jeremie’s account to the House of Representatives, Hector had just delivered a sermon on the goodness of God and was walking with his family toward their car when two vehicles — a black SUV and a Nissan B15 — ambushed the group. Hitmen exited the vehicles and fired seven shots into Hector’s chest, killing him instantly.
What makes the killing even more damning for the former PNM administration, Jeremie argued, is the timing: the assassination occurred just hours after the then-government had declared a national state of emergency (SoE) in response to surging gang violence. The then-Attorney General Stuart Young had justified the SoE by citing police intelligence that warned of imminent brazen criminal attacks and reprisal killings between rival gangs, particularly in violence-plagued areas like Port of Spain and Laventille. Yet, Jeremie pointed out, then-Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley was nowhere to be seen during the crisis — he was photographed attending a social event in Tobago holding a drink, leaving the SoE announcement to Young instead of the sitting national security minister or prime minister.
“The gangs’ immediate answer to the declaration of their state of emergency was to do precisely what the state of emergency was supposed to prevent,” Jeremie told the Deputy Speaker. He added that Hector’s murder was just one high-profile example of the systemic failure of gang policy under the PNM, which left the country reeling from a historic murder crisis: three consecutive years of annual homicide totals approaching or exceeding 600, culminating in a record-breaking bloodshed in 2024. When the current United National Congress (UNC)-led Persad-Bissessar administration took office, it inherited a nation grappling with unprecedented levels of gang-related terror, Jeremie noted.
In his address to parliament, Jeremie confirmed that the alleged mastermind behind Hector’s killing has been cut off from his criminal network while in custody at Teteron Barracks, stripping him of the ability to exert the same level of violent influence that left the previous PNM administration “timid and silent.” Jeremie declined to name the suspect or confirm whether formal charges have been filed in connection with Hector’s death.
Jeremie stressed that while national security has improved measurably under the current administration, with statistical data backing up claims of falling violence, this is no time for complacency. That is why the government is advancing the Special Operations Bill, which would grant law enforcement expanded powers to disrupt and dismantle organized criminal networks.
Hector’s assassination sent immediate shockwaves through the country’s legal and justice system. The prosecutor had previously served as legal director of the Strategic Services Agency before opening his own private practice, and he was regularly retained by the state to prosecute high-profile cases against alleged gang leaders. In the wake of the killing, prosecutors across the country were left traumatized and boycotted court proceedings for the remainder of the week, forcing the rescheduling of jury selection in supreme courts across Port of Spain, San Fernando, and Tobago. The Law Association called for urgent enhanced security protections for prosecutors and judicial officers handling sensitive gang cases, and law enforcement quickly moved to implement additional security detail for at-risk legal personnel. As of April 2025, acting Police Commissioner Junior Benjamin confirmed that the investigation file had been sent to Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard, who ordered additional inquiries before formal prosecution can proceed.