PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – A Chinese national is among two men murdered here over the past 48 hours bringing the death toll so far this year to 313.

Police said that Chang Seng, 33, was shot dead on Saturday night at his Golden Girls Restaurant along the east-west corridor.

Law enforcement authorities said that Seng was at the restaurant when a lone gunman entered and demanded that the Chinese national hand over the money in the restaurant till but he refused, upon which he was shot once in the head. The man then handed his bag to another employee who turned over an undisclosed amount of cash.

Police believe that the killer had been observing the premises for some time.

"This is not just someone who decided just like that to go and rob a random Chinese restaurant. The individual responsible for this had to be monitoring its operations over a period of time," said police.

Seng’s murder comes three months after a Chinese couple, Yang Jiang Hua and Wu Xia Hua, both 60, were ambushed inside their Tiger's Chinese Restaurant and Bar, at Cunupia in Central Trinidad during a robbery on July 16.

No arrests have been made in those murders.

Meanwhile, police are probing the death of an unidentified man, whose body was found a sporting complex in Malabar, south of Port of Spain.

The authorities are also investigating the death of a 22-year-old Arouca woman who died in a fire at her home over the weekend.

Police believe that Vanessa Samuel, of Bon Air West, may have committed suicide.

Reports indicate that the woman, who was at home with her mother, suddenly left the room and went into her bedroom, where smoke was later seen coming from.

Police said Samuel's mother attempted to open the door but it was locked from the inside. She then alerted neighbours who assisted in putting out the blaze, but by the time the fire was extinguished, Samuel was already dead.

Police said they were told by the woman's relatives that over the past few weeks she had been "acting and behaving strange."

"She was saying strange things and acting in strange ways. The family carried her to the doctor to find out what was going on and the doctor said she was probably under some type of stress," police said.

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