A TEENAGE boy from Maloney, described as having played a “key role” in having his neighbourhood football academy reach the quarter-finals of a national youth league, is in critical condition after being shot on Saturday night.

Police said that at 10.52 p.m. officers of the Northern Division Task Force responded to a report about a shooting at Building 12 in Maloney. When they arrived on the scene, they were told that the victim, Zwade Alleyne, 17, had already been taken to the Arima Hospital by a neighbour.

They were told that around 10.45 p.m. Alleyne was among a group of other teenagers on the third floor of Building 12 when they observed a group of armed men on the southern side of the building’s car park firing in their direction. Alleyne and his friends dropped to the floor. As the men continued firing Alleyne got back up but was struck by a bullet to his head. The gunmen then ran off as Alleyne’s friends began screaming out that he had been shot.