A brutal early-morning ambush shooting in the quiet Belmont neighborhood of Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, has left three people dead – including a toddler just two weeks shy of his third birthday – and a mother fighting for her life, sending shockwaves through the tight-knit community and amplifying long-simmering anger over persistent violent crime.
The attack unfolded at approximately 8:35 a.m. on Wednesday, when four people were traveling through the Holder Steps/Rifle Hill area off Upper St Francois Valley Road in a Toyota Aqua. Akil “Fats” Kafi, 30, the toddler’s father, and his companion Anthony “Monster” Wilson occupied the front seats, while Akil’s partner Antonia Cain-Kafi sat in the back holding their two-year-old son Akinni Kafi. Without warning, a second vehicle blocked the car’s path, and unidentified gunmen stepped out and opened a barrage of fire on the trapped vehicle.
Hit by gunfire, Kafi and Wilson fled the car but collapsed a short distance away, succumbing to their wounds at the scene. Cain-Kafi was struck four times in the back, and the toddler was also fatally hit. Despite her own critical injuries, Cain-Kafi refused to release her grip on her injured son. A neighbor who rushed to the scene after hearing the gunshots drove the pair to Port of Spain General Hospital. Only after reaching the hospital’s emergency department did Cain-Kafi hand over her child, before immediately collapsing from her wounds. Tragically, medical staff confirmed Akinni was already dead upon arrival.
As of Wednesday night, Cain-Kafi remained in critical condition at the hospital. The attack marks a second devastating loss for Akil Kafi: police confirmed he lost another son from a previous relationship to gang-related violence in Belmont just one year prior.
Senior Trinidad and Tobago Police Service officers, including Acting Assistant Commissioners Richard Smith and Suzette Martin, arrived at the crime scene within minutes to launch the investigation. Speaking to reporters at the scene, Smith expressed unreserved anger over the senseless killing of the toddler, calling the attack “quite ridiculous” and emphasizing that investigators would not treat the case lightly.
“This child would have turned three years in two weeks’ time,” Smith said. “What we are seeing here in this district, in the Port of Spain Division, is a series of homicides that we have been working on assiduously to bring these murders under control. Yes, we may not be omnipresent, but we have our patrols out on a 24/7 basis trying to keep the peace in these areas. We are quite concerned because it shows a blatant disregard for life and to the authorities, and we will do all that it takes to keep the country safe. We will go after all those who intend on committing these crimes and we continue to go after them, and let the chips fall where they may.”
Martin echoed Smith’s frustration, framing the rising violent crime rate as a national issue rather than a problem solely for law enforcement to solve. She urged community members to step forward with information about the attackers, emphasizing that police are available around the clock to accept tips, and warned against residents taking vigilante action.
“This is not just a police issue, this is a Trinidad and Tobago issue where people have to come together to make Trinidad and Tobago a safer place, so if you see something, say something,” Martin said. She also announced that the police service would ramp up targeted patrols across the Belmont area in response to the attack and a recent string of local homicides.
Local residents, who have grown increasingly weary of persistent violence in their neighborhood, shared their outrage and grief with reporters Wednesday. Multiple residents said many locals now avoid certain high-crime pockets of Belmont out of fear for their safety, and criticized community members who hold information about violent actors but refuse to cooperate with police.
“The innocent can’t even count to 1, 2, 3 as yet and they dead,” one local grocery worker said. “What are these young men fighting for? Are we not praying with them or counselling them because if my children are doing something wrong, I will tell them because at this stage, we really don’t know who is next. We should all feel that pain.”
Another long-time Belmont resident noted the neighborhood’s natural beauty and convenient location, but said young criminals have made the area unsafe for older residents, and that the silence of community members who know what is happening has enabled the violence.
“I know that people know what is taking place in their own homes and they are not speaking out, and now children are paying the price,” she said.
A friend of the Kafi-Cain family, who shared her grief on social media Wednesday, highlighted the years of struggle the couple went through to have their son. “My heart is completely shattered. To know the journey my friend travelled, the years of waiting and the miracle of finally having her son, only for it all to be stolen in a moment of senseless violence. A whole family gone. There are no words for this kind of pain. I am hurt. I am outraged and I am tired. How can we live like this? A father and a child wiped out on the side of the road like their lives meant nothing. FOR WHAT? When will the innocent stop paying the price? Our country is bleeding,” she wrote.
As of Wednesday night, the national murder toll for the current calendar year reached 130, underscoring the scale of the ongoing violent crime crisis facing the twin-island nation. No suspects have been arrested as of the latest updates, and police continue to appeal for public information to track down the gunmen responsible for the triple killing.
