A WOMAN was shot and killed in East Port of Spain yesterday morning when two bandits tried to drag her our of her vehicle.According to police, 38-year-old Jameelia Lewis was in her black Isuzu D-Max parked off Achong Street, opposite the John John Towers when the incident occurred around 7 a.m.Two men, police said, approached the parked vehicle which Lewis reportedly lived in, opened it from the passenger side and attempted to pull her out.It is believed she resisted, during which one of the men shot her four times.She died at the scene.The bandits fled without taking anything.Investigators believe the vehicle was the suspects intended target, as there was little else of value inside.The discovery of Lewis’ body was made after motorists heading into Port of Spain noticed the vehicle with gunshot holes and contacted the police.Officers from the Besson Street Police Station, Region One Homicide Bureau and Crime Scene Unit responded.After processing the scene, Lewis’s body was removed to a mortuary in East Port of Spain.Lewis was formerly of Foster Street, John John, which is a short distance from where she was killed.Neighbours described her as a friendly but tough woman who had remained close to the community despite living in her vehicle.One neighbour, Isaiah James, said he and Lewis had grown up together and that he heard the gunshots that ended her life yesterday morning.“She used to sleep in the van but she was still close to home in a kind of way,” he said.James claimed Lewis’s three children—two girls, aged 16 and 13, and an 18-year-old son had been placed in the State’s care about three years ago.He said the separation had affected her deeply.He also believed that Lewis fought back when the men tried to take her vehicle.Describing her as a tough person, he speculated that her resistance may have prompted one of the bandits to shoot her.Another neighbour claimed that Lewis’s children had been removed from her care after she stopped sending them to school.The neighbour said Lewis became increasingly depressed following the separation from her children.“She wasn’t mad, yuh know. She was simply the kind of person who wanted to live off the land and in the bush,” he said.He added that Lewis kept the van near the community where she had grown up because she felt safe there.A third neighbour said Lewis had also been using discarded pallets in an attempt to construct a makeshift place to live near where she usually parked her vehicle.The murder toll for the year stands at 228.The comparative figure for the same period last year was 234.