A St Joseph man was gunned down early yesterday morning.

Anthony Narine, 52, was killed between 12.30 a.m. and 1 a.m.

Relatives yesterday described him as one of the most loving, peaceful and likeable people in the Agostini Street, St Joseph, area.

Narine, a father of three, was at the home of a friend playing cards in the garage at Hutton Street, St Joseph, not far from his Agostini Street home. A few other men were there at the time.

Next to the house is an unoccupied plot of land.

Police believed the killers parked their car along Hutton Street, got out and made their way through the plot of land.

The killers opened fire on the men, killing Narine.

More than 32 spent shells were recovered by police.

Narine was shot several times.

He slumped over and died in a small, green plastic chair.

Two other men were grazed by bullets, while another was shot in the leg.

They were taken to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope, where he was treated.

A team of officers led by Supt David Abraham along with Ag Insp Vetus Hernandez of the St Joseph CID visited the scene.

Police said Narine's shooting could have been a reprisal for the shooting death of Seales, but Narine's family said that could not have been the case.

"We believe that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time," said an unnamed relative.

Narine's daughter, Judy Narine, said, "The family heard the shots and we got a call and they tell us our father had died. Now a loved one has gone and if they told us that he got a heart attack we might be able to accept that, but not gunned down. I mean crime in Trinidad and Tobago is the worst that I have seen in the last 25 years."

Last Thursday, Mwali Seales, the brother of Sgt Michael Seales, the general secretary of the Police Social and Welfare Association, was shot dead at 6.45 a.m., along Agostini Street, as he walked to get a taxi to head to work.

He was found lying face-down in a drain at the side of the road, with several bullet wounds in the back of the head.

Seales had recently moved to St Joseph from Diego Martin, and had been working at the Curepe Priority Mall for the past several months.

The murder toll stood at 71 last night.