(T&TGuardian)When Marvin Safe’s three-year-old son enters pre-school next Monday, it will not be his father’s hand he holds, but his grandfather’s.
Safe, 29, of North Manzanilla Road, Manzanilla, was ambushed and killed around 6.30 am yesterday, as he drove onto the compound of the Arima General Hospital to pick up duties.
The brazen attack on the hospital attendant left his co-workers and visitors to the facility who witnesses the brazen attack, and who had to scamper for cover as his attackers unleashed a hail of bullets at his car, traumatised.
Safe, who was employed with the North Central Regional Health Authority (NCRHA) for the past three years, was described by distraught co-workers and shocked relatives as a good man who usually kept his head down and worked hard.
Reports indicate that a heavily tinted black X-trail drove up to Safe’s car as he entered the carpark and several persons began shooting at him while he was still seated in the vehicle.
As screams from stunned onlookers pierced the air, the gunmen escaped in their vehicle along Queen Mary Avenue.
Crime Scene Investigators later found over 14 spent shells inside and around Safe’s vehicle as they processed the scene, closely watched by bystanders on the compound.
Speaking with Guardian Media yesterday, Safe’s father, Hugh Safe, cried, “He was a nice boy…I don’t know how they could watch him and do him that. They wicked.”
Revealing that his son had already bought his grandson’s books and uniforms, as he had been excited to witness him beginning school, Hugh said, “He didn’t deserve that. He ain’t no bad boy. He never go in jail…nothing.”
Adding that the family was hurt and had been thrown into shock, Hugh said Marvin’s mother, who resides in the US, had been left grief-stricken and was now scrambling to return to T&T.
Hugh said Marvin was also not known for liming.
Addressing the issue after he arrived at the facility, North Central Regional Health Authority Chief Executive Officer Davlin Thomas said yesterday’s killing was a sad day for the institution.
He extended condolences to Safe’s family and colleagues—even as he sought to reassure the public that security measures at the facility were in place.
Insisting these measures will be reinforced, Thomas rationalised, “The security measures were in place at the time of the shooting, but this was a brazen attack on a citizen.”
Thomas said social service interventions had already been activated to deal with Safe’s co-workers, adding psychological counselling would be made available to all members of staff.
“This had happened on the doorstep of the facility,” Thomas said, noting they owed it to employees to ensure their psychological state was addressed.
Guardian Media understands that a risk assessment of the facility was also initiated yesterday and will continue today.
