FREELANCER Kelly Lemessy was shot and killed on Thursday while seated in her vehicle with two of her children, police said.

Lemessy, 37, a freelancer with Guardian Media Ltd, was ambushed shortly after midday outside a rental property on Naparima/Mayaro Road near Lazzari Village, Rio Claro. Police said two gunmen approached the car from either side and fired multiple shots. Lemessy died inside the vehicle.

Her nine-year-old daughter was in the front passenger seat and her 23-month-old daughter was on Lemessy’s lap at the time of the shooting. Investigators believe Lemessy shielded the toddler, as both children were not injured.

The gunmen fled the scene, and police suspect they escaped in a white Nissan Wingroad that was later found abandoned about a kilometre away on Naparima/Mayaro Road in Poole Village. Detectives believe the vehicle was used to flee before the attackers switched to another car.

Relatives accompanied Lemessy’s mother to the scene but declined to comment. Police said the motive remains unknown.

Lemessy’s death is the latest in a series of violent incidents involving her family. Seven months ago, her sister Cassie-Ann Lemessy, 41, was shot multiple times in a similar attack and died in her vehicle in Mayaro.

In a separate matter, Lemessy and another sister, Lou Ann Lemessy, were charged last June with grievous bodily harm against their brother, Gerard Dillah, who was allegedly burned after being doused with hot water and bleach at the family home in Mayaro on May 29. The sisters were granted $250,000 bail each on June 6 and ordered, as a condition of bail, to leave the family home.