分类： society

A deadly late-night ambush on a Trinidad and Tobago roadway has left a nation grappling with unspeakable sorrow, after gunmen pulled over a car carrying five people returning from a casual day trip, killing four including a 9-year-old elementary school student with a bright artistic future. The violent attack unfolded Sunday evening along Lady Young Road in Morvant, cutting short the lives of 34-year-old Asim Armstrong, his 9-year-old great-niece J’Layna Armstrong, 27-year-old Obataiye Latiff, and 24-year-old Chelsea Edwards. The fifth passenger, 23-year-old Cornelius Short, escaped with his life and remains hospitalized in stable condition following the attack. For Tee Bruce, a Belmont resident and mother to Armstrong and honorary grandmother to J’Layna, the violence has shattered her world completely, leaving her unable to process the sudden loss of two of her closest family members. In an emotional interview with local media on Monday, Bruce described her heart as “mashed up” by the killings, saying she is stuck in a constant state of numb grief that leaves her weeping nonstop. “Numb is the word to say. I have no more feelings. I cry every minute,” Bruce shared. For Bruce, who raised three sons, J’Layna filled the place of the daughter she never had, and the bond between Armstrong and the young girl was unbreakable—so close, Bruce said, they were like “ring on finger.” The morning of the trip, Bruce had packed J’Layna’s clothes for the group’s outing to Harry’s Water Park in Tabaquite, and watched the child walk out the door to meet her uncle, with no idea it would be the last time she saw her alive. “Everybody was good. Everything was okay,” she recalled. Now, she says her days are marked by crippling emotional ups and downs, and J’Layna’s biological father is faring even worse in the wake of the tragedy. Though Bruce says she draws some comfort from the outpouring of support from friends and extended family, the loss has left an irreparable hole in her life. Just weeks earlier, the community had mourned the death of 7-year-old Angelica Saydee Jogie, who died in a jet ski accident off the coast of Tobago. Bruce said she had grieved deeply for that little girl, never imagining she would soon be facing her own devastating loss of a child. Remembering J’Layna, Bruce described the 9-year-old as a confident, outspoken, loving and incredibly intelligent young girl who was already showing signs of being a future star. “She will get on very bad, if you don’t pronounce her name properly,” Bruce said, laughing through her tears as she recalled J’Layna’s fiery personality. J’Layna loved the performing arts and drama, and had been training under veteran Trinidadian actress, producer and drama coach Penelope Spencer, who recognized her natural talent and potential from the start. Walking through J’Layna’s bedroom on Monday morning, Bruce found herself staring at the young girl’s landscape paintings, a quiet reminder of all the potential that was cut short. J’Layna’s mother, Bruce added, was a dedicated hardworking parent who doted on her daughter—even making special trips to J’Layna’s school to deliver sushi for her birthday, and bringing flowers to cheer her on after every school walkathon. J’Layna’s stepfather was also a loving, steady presence in her life, Bruce said, and the whole family had welcomed him fully. For Asim Armstrong, J’Layna was “his eyeball”—the person he loved most in the world, Bruce said. What makes their shared death even more tragic, she added, is that Armstrong had already fought and won a brutal battle with aggressive cancer. Diagnosed at age 20, Armstrong endured years of harsh treatment that forced him to give up his beloved hobby of playing football, and he had only just pulled through a major health crisis around the 2023 Christmas holiday. Armstrong would have turned 35 on May 31, and the family had been planning a celebratory trip to Saint Lucia to mark the occasion. Despite the unthinkable loss, Bruce says the family holds no anger toward the attackers, and is just focused on supporting one another through this dark time. Instead of a traditional wake, the family will host a night of prayer to honor Armstrong and J’Layna before their funeral. Local political leaders and community members have also expressed profound shock and sorrow over the attack, which has sent waves of grief across the entire country. Keith Scotland, Member of Parliament for Port of Spain South, called the killings far more than an ordinary tragedy, saying the violence has shifted the entire national mood. “What has occurred there is more than a tragedy. It’s something that has changed the mood of the nation. It’s unfathomable what has transpired,” Scotland said in a telephone interview Monday. Scotland extended his deepest condolences to the entire family, noting that even though he never met J’Layna, all accounts paint her as a good child on a promising path. Scotland added that this ambush is just the latest in a string of violent tragedies that the small nation is struggling to process, coming just after the killing of Corporal Eversley in San Fernando and the discovery of 56 buried bodies at a cemetery in Cumuto. “It’s a lot for the country to process. It’s sad,” he said. For residents of Morvant, the news of the ambush, and the killing of an innocent 9-year-old, has left the entire community reeling. On Monday morning, as residents prepared for their workday, many described feeling overwhelming shock and sadness at the news. One local woman asked, “Who would want to hurt a child?” Another male resident said he personally knew one of the murdered men and the young girl, calling the killing simply senseless and sad. “We have to keep praying. Day in, day out. We have to cover ourselves,” one Morvant woman said of the ongoing wave of violence that has shaken the community.

A high-ranking Trinidad and Tobago police official has been ordered onto immediate administrative leave as investigators unravel a shocking case that combines the brutal murder of a serving police officer, large-scale theft of law enforcement firearms, and alleged long-running corruption within the municipal police ranks.

Surrendra Sagramsingh, Municipal Assistant Commissioner of Police and head of the Trinidad and Tobago Municipal Police Service (TTMPS) for six years, confirmed to local outlet Express that he stepped down from his duties at the direction of government authorities. The administrative action comes as detectives intensify their probe into the killing of Anuska Eversley, a municipal police corporal, and the mass theft of weapons and ammunition from the San Fernando Municipal Police Station, where Eversley was stationed.

In an interview over the phone, Sagramsingh acknowledged that while being placed on leave during an active investigation is not standard procedure, he was complying fully with the directive. “If the authorities feel that is the best thing to do at the time, I am compliant,” he stated, adding that “this measure is for transparency during the investigation, and I accept that it goes with the territory of my position.”

The formal directive, dated April 21, 2026, was issued by acting permanent secretary Peter Mitchell on behalf of the Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government. The letter explicitly clarifies that the leave is a precautionary step to protect the investigation’s integrity, and does not represent a finding of misconduct or personal liability on Sagramsingh’s part. It directs him to remain available to investigators and cooperate fully with all lawful requests connected to the probe, a condition Sagramsingh says he accepts.

The case unfolded early on Sunday morning, when Eversley, a mother of three, was found dead inside the San Fernando station at 4:40 a.m. A subsequent autopsy revealed she had suffered a brutal attack: she was beaten, strangled, and stabbed to death. Immediately after the discovery of Eversley’s body, authorities confirmed that a large cache of firearms and ammunition stored in the station’s charge room had been stolen.

Senior investigative sources speaking to Express have outlined a sprawling, months-long criminal conspiracy at the heart of the case. Preliminary probe findings indicate a ring of corrupt municipal police officers has been diverting station-held weapons and selling them to criminal organizations for between six and eight months prior to Eversley’s death. The ongoing scheme has sparked urgent questions about how the illegal activity went undetected by command staff for so long.

Sources also told reporters that investigators believe Eversley was a participating member of the smuggling ring. They allege she regularly brought unauthorized men into the station, facilitated the transport of drugs and stolen weapons using official police vehicles, and provided armed escort for gang members carrying out criminal operations. According to investigative accounts, Eversley and a primary suspect had been stealing small batches of firearms and ammunition from the charge room for months, selling the weapons and splitting the illicit profits.

The fatal confrontation that led to her murder reportedly stemmed from a dispute over the scope of the theft: Eversley favored continuing the slow, small-scale diversion of weapons to avoid detection, while the suspect pushed to steal the entire cache of stored weapons in one raid. On the Saturday night before her body was found, Eversley was on duty at the station. Investigators say she sent the two other on-duty officers upstairs to sleep, telling them she would handle securing the charge room alone.

Witness and intelligence accounts indicate an unknown man arrived at the station later that night to meet Eversley, and the pair engaged in sexual activity. When Eversley’s body was discovered the next morning, she was found partially clothed. After killing Eversley, the suspect signaled to two other men waiting in a silver vehicle parked outside the station. The group then removed the entire stolen cache of weapons from the station property. Sources identify the prime suspect as a drug addict who they believe masterminded the final mass heist.

As of press time, police have detained 10 people connected to the case, and recovery efforts for the stolen weapons are underway. A major breakthrough came yesterday, when the Highway Patrol South Operations Team stopped a white Kia K2700 pickup truck carrying three male suspects. During the stop, officers recovered 13 firearms, 12 magazines, 288 rounds of 9mm ammunition, and 10 12-gauge cartridges, all confirmed to be from the Sunday theft. To date, a total of 43 firearms and more than 900 rounds of mixed ammunition have been recovered.

Investigators add that they already have intelligence on the location of remaining stolen weapons, and expect to apprehend additional suspects who aided and abetted the criminal ring. The case has also revealed allegations that corrupt officers have falsified official station records to cover up the gradual theft of weapons over the past year.

Only days before he was placed on leave, Sagramsingh stood alongside Police Commissioner Allister Guevarro and Minister of Homeland Security Roger Alexander at an official press conference in San Fernando addressing the incident. When contacted by Express for comment on Sagramsingh’s placement on leave, Minister Khadijah Ameen of the Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government confirmed her department’s acting permanent secretary had issued the directive, but declined to provide further details, citing the active ongoing investigation. Police Commissioner Guevarro also did not respond to requests for comment by press time.