A fatal shooting has shaken the quiet community of Vistabella in San Fernando, Trinidad, claiming the life of a well-known local construction businessman and leaving investigators untangling the circumstances of a deadly confrontation between the victim and an unidentified woman early yesterday morning.
Thirty-seven-year-old Steve Ghany, a married father of two with 11 years of marriage, was deeply embedded in his family’s multi-project construction business and was also a prominent figure in the local jet-ski community. According to initial police accounts, the conflict erupted shortly after 8:30 a.m. inside Ghany’s residential property, when a verbal argument between Ghany and the woman escalated rapidly into a physical altercation.
After several minutes of back-and-forth struggle, law enforcement reports indicate Ghany retrieved a firearm and fired shots toward the woman, who emerged from that exchange unharmed. Investigators were later told by a Ghany family relative that the woman then seized a second weapon and returned fire, striking Ghany multiple times. He succumbed to his injuries at the scene before emergency responders could intervene.
Crime scene processing teams recovered two functional firearms and 11 spent bullet casings from the property as key evidence. The woman involved was taken into custody at the home immediately after the shooting; she was transported to receive mandatory medical assessment before being moved to a holding facility at the Southern Division police station.
Multiple law enforcement units, including Region Three Homicide Detectives, the Southern Division Task Force, and the San Fernando Criminal Investigations Department, have launched a full probe to map out the full sequence of events and identify what motive sparked the deadly confrontation. Attorney Prakash Ramadhar, who visited the Ghany residence to meet with family members and law enforcement shortly after the incident, declined to comment on the case when contacted by local outlet Express. “It is too early at this time to make a statement on behalf of the family,” Ramadhar said via phone.
A Ghany family employee, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity, described the chaotic moments after he arrived for work yesterday. The worker said he first heard a series of loud bangs around 9:15 a.m. but did not immediately recognize the sounds as gunfire. “I went to check the work we were supposed to do today on the house, when we heard a few noises like ‘Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!’ My son asked me if that noise was galvanise pounding. About five minutes later, a policeman came into the yard and asked me what was happening. I told him I didn’t know what was going on. It was a while after I realised that something had happened,” the employee recalled.
The worker spoke warmly of Ghany, describing him as a fair, approachable employer who treated his staff like family. “Steve treated all of his workers very good, and he was understanding. He would call those fellas on the phone and talk to them normal. He said we were part of his family, and he trusted us, his workers,” the employee said.
The shooting comes just months after a separate high-profile gun violence incident that rocked the Ghany family. In December 2024, Ghany’s stepmother Monica Ghany was killed in a targeted ambush, and his brother Matthew was wounded. The attack unfolded as Monica and Matthew left San Fernando General Hospital, driving along a major commuter route near the water taxi ferry terminal on their way back to the family’s San Fernando home. Gunmen in an oncoming vehicle pulled alongside and opened fire on the driver’s side of their Nissan Tiida, striking Monica multiple times in the upper body. She was pronounced dead at the scene, while Matthew survived a gunshot wound to his right hand. The attackers fled the area, and the killing remains an open, unsolved case. Monica Ghany’s husband — also named Steve Ghany — died just a few months after the ambush.
Speaking to reporters yesterday at the formal handing-over ceremony for the new Penal Fire Station, Minister of Homeland Security Roger Alexander offered public condolences to the Ghany family, noting he had met with Steve Ghany just over the weekend during a visit to a local rifle range. “I hope the good Lord bless his soul, and that the family will be able to live again after this incident,” Alexander said, confirming that investigators are still working to piece together all details of yesterday’s shooting.