Two Women Fatally Shot at Couva Spa

The Full Story

Two women were fatally shot at a spa in Couva on the morning of Wednesday 28 October, according to original reporting by the Trinidad Guardian. The victims were described as the business owner and a customer. The newspaper placed the incident at SOHO Beauty Heaven and put the initial report of the attack at about 9:20 a.m.

Sources: Trinidad Guardian, 28 Oct ↗

The Guardian reported that an armed person entered the premises, shot the customer and then confronted the owner in another room before leaving. These are preliminary details from the newspaper’s account; police had not issued a public account of the sequence in the material reviewed.

Police were still at the scene around midday, the Guardian reported. No one else was reported injured. The attacker’s identity and motive had not been established, and the report did not mention an arrest.

Sources: Trinidad Guardian, 28 Oct ↗

Later on 28 October, TTT reported a police account confirming that a man entered the spa on the Southern Main Road, shot one woman, then went into another room where the second was fatally shot. Police said the gunman remained at large and they were working to establish a motive. The account supports the broad sequence in the earlier Guardian report; it does not establish why the women were targeted.

Sources: TTT News, 28 Oct ↗

In a further report on 29 October, the Express said police described a conversation between the gunman and the women before the shooting, followed by his escape on a motorcycle ridden by another person. Investigators recovered 14 spent nine-millimetre casings and retrieved CCTV footage, according to that account. The report still gave no established motive or arrest. It located the business at Veneris Plaza on Charlotte Street, whereas the earlier TTT account referred to the Southern Main Road; the precise address discrepancy has not been independently resolved.

Sources: Trinidad Express, 29 Oct ↗

A fuller Guardian Media account, published by CNC3 on Thursday evening, places the spa at the corner of the Southern Main Road and Charlotte Street in Veneris Plaza. That description links the streets named separately in the earlier reports, although Luk It Hyah has not independently checked the site. The report says police had not held or questioned anyone and had not established a motive. It also records the Couva Point Lisas Chamber of Commerce’s call for increased patrols and visibility; this is a request, not an announced police deployment.

Sources: Guardian Media via CNC3 RSS, 29 Oct ↗

On Friday 30 October, Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander told Parliament that police had intensified intelligence-led operations and targeted patrols in Central following the spa double murder and attorney Taradath Singh’s separate killing, according to TTT News. He declined to reveal operational details or say whether arrests had been made. This later statement does not confirm that anyone was arrested, and it does not establish a motive or a connection between the cases.

Sources: TTT News, 30 Oct, 5:52 p.m. Trinidad time ↗