TRINIDAD-Screams and cries res­onat­ed from the hills of Laven­tille on Thurs­day night, af­ter po­lice shot and killed five men who opened fire on them. The in­ci­dent is ex­pect­ed to trig­ger a blood war be­tween of­fi­cers and crim­i­nal gangs in the hotspot com­mu­ni­ty and po­lice are al­ready tak­ing pre­cau­tions to safe­guard their lives.

Two of the men killed were iden­ti­fied as Me­shack “Crash” Dou­glas and Kadeem Williams, while an­oth­er was iden­ti­fied on­ly as Shaquille. The killings took place around 10.21 pm at Trou Macaque, Laven­tille. Of­fi­cers of the In­ter-Agency Task Force Strike Team were on pa­trol in thre com­mu­ni­ty when the men al­leged­ly opened fire on them from a ve­hi­cle, hit­ting one of the po­lice of­fi­cer’s in the chest. His bul­let­proof vest saved him. His col­leagues re­turned fire at the men, killing them. Four died on the scene while a fifth was sent to the Port-of-Spain Gen­er­al Hos­pi­tal where he was pro­nounced dead on ar­rival.(TRINIDAD GUARDIAN)…[+]