While he ac­knowl­edges that a re­cent uptick in mur­ders was un­for­tu­nate, Po­lice Com­mis­sion­er Al­lis­ter Gue­var­ro says the most re­cent spate of mur­ders was not nec­es­sar­i­ly re­lat­ed to the ac­tiv­i­ties that sparked the on­go­ing State of Emer­gency, as they each took place in a dif­fer­ent part of the coun­try and un­der dif­fer­ing cir­cum­stances.

On Tues­day, six mur­ders were re­port­ed. Among the vic­tims were Jovell Paul, 15, and his broth­er Rod­ney Slater, 23, who were gunned down in Mt Hope.

Speak­ing with re­porters af­ter a po­lice raid at an il­le­gal quar­ry­ing site on Tumpuna Road South yes­ter­day, Gue­var­ro not­ed that while he felt the T&T Po­lice Ser­vice had made some progress in crime re­duc­tion for the year thus far, it was fair to ac­knowl­edge weak­ness­es when they emerged.