State of Emergency Declared in Trinidad and Tobago After Gang Killings

T&T government declares state of emergency after gang reprisals kill five in Laventille. Police gain sweeping new powers to arrest, search, and suspend bail.

Trinidad and Tobago Declares State of Emergency After Wave of Gang Reprisals

Trinidad and Tobago's government declared a state of emergency in the early hours of Monday following a rapid escalation of gang violence over the weekend, aljazeera.com reported.

Acting Attorney General Stuart Young announced the measure at a press conference on Monday, stating that information from the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service "dictated and mandated the necessity of this extreme action that we took this morning." He stressed that the declaration was "not taken lightly."

Shooting Outside Police Station Triggers Chain of Reprisals

The immediate trigger was a shooting on Saturday afternoon outside the Besson Street police station in Port of Spain. Suspected gang leader Calvin Lee had arrived at the station to sign the bail book when, according to The Daily Express, gunmen emerged from a nearby van and opened fire as Lee and his entourage were leaving. The attack, described by local media as an ambush, left one person dead. Lee himself managed to flee.

The shooting set off a chain of retaliatory killings. Within 24 hours, Young said, six people were shot in Laventille, a suburb of Port of Spain. Five of them died. Young said further reprisals remain anticipated.

"There can be expected heightened reprisal activities by the criminal elements in and around certain places in Trinidad and Tobago," Young said, warning that gangs were likely to "immediately increase their brazen acts of violence in reprisal shootings on a scale so extensive that it threatens persons and will endanger public safety."

Expanded Police Powers, No Curfew

The state of emergency grants law enforcement the authority to arrest individuals "on suspicion of involvement in illegal activities," to "search and enter both public and private premises," and to suspend bail. The government specified that no curfew would be imposed, and the right to public assembly and peaceful demonstration would remain intact.

Young cited the type of weapons involved as a key factor in the decision to invoke emergency powers. He noted the use of AK-47 and AR-15 firearms, saying the high-calibre weapons significantly increased the risk of bystander deaths.

"Over the last month or so, the government has been concerned about the use of high-powered, illegal firearms — high-calibre firearms including automatic weapons that unfortunately are a scourge throughout the whole Caribbean region," Young said.

Illegal Firearms Flowing From the United States

Caribbean nations do not manufacture firearms domestically. Many of the weapons used in gang violence have been illegally imported, with the United States identified as a major source.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reported in March that the US accounted for approximately 42 percent of global arms exports. A 2017 Small Arms Survey found that US civilians hold around 40 percent of the world's privately owned firearms.

US-origin guns have been linked to crimes across the Caribbean, from Haiti and Jamaica to Trinidad and Tobago itself. The US has collaborated with 13 Caribbean countries to disrupt the illegal arms trade. Between 2018 and 2022, an estimated 7,399 firearms recovered from crime scenes in the region were sent to the US for tracing.

A US Government Accountability Office report published in October found that of the firearms traced during that four-year period, 5,399 — or 73 percent — originated from the United States.

Record Homicide Rate in 2024

The declaration comes against the backdrop of a severe and worsening homicide crisis. According to government figures, Trinidad and Tobago recorded 623 homicides in 2024 up to the point of the announcement. In December alone, 61 people were killed.

Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds told Monday's press conference that gangs were responsible for 263 of the year's homicides.

"So as a result, we consider that this declaration of a public emergency is to confront the criminals and to allow law enforcement easier access than ordinary to them, in light of the crises they have presented to this country," Hinds said.

Young declined to name specific locations where gang activity is concentrated, but indicated that security forces would be operating across both Trinidad and Tobago.

Source: Google News TT — Crime