AN apartment complex owner and a bandit killed each other yesterday during a botched home invasion in Carapichaima.
The Express was told by neighbours that around noon, an armed bandit walked into the complex, located on Rodney Road, Orange Field Road. The complex houses eight apartments and is owned by Mario Maraj, 37.
The bandit headed towards the landlord’s apartment, situated close to Rodney Road.
Pointing a gun at Maraj, he announced a robbery. The landlord however fought back, and during the struggle for the gun, both men were shot.
Both Maraj and the bandit were killed on the scene.
Maraj’s wife was at the scene yesterday evening when the Express arrived, but she declined interviews.
Other relatives spoke, however. One man described the victim as ‘real ambitious and hard-working’.
‘I know him. He does really work hard for whatever he wanted,’ said the man who asked not to be named.
He added that Maraj had constructed the complex approximately four years ago.
This is the second man shot and killed this week while allegedly committing an armed robbery.
On Wednesday, a man identified as Lekemus Murphy, 33, and another man tried taking a woman’s Nissan Tiida sedan at gunpoint, moments after she parked near an ATM (automated teller machine) at Long Circular Mall, St James.
Murphy was shot and killed by security guards while the other suspect escaped.
The murder toll stood at 142 while the toll on this date last year was 207.