Yesterday, two Belize City men were gunned down in broad-daylight, and by the stroke of midnight another had been brutally murdered. Queen's Square Market security guard, Emilio Miller was on his way to work just before midnight last night when he was chopped to death and possibly shot as well by what is believed to be a single attacker. Why did they do it? No one can say, but because robbery was not the motive, those in the market community say that it may have been the terrible conclusion to a bitter personal grudge - a grudge that may have started over "woman business." Alfonso Noble has been looking for some answers, and here's his report:
Alfonso Noble reporting,
Forty year old security guard Emilio Miller was on Bocotora Street riding towards Queen's Square Market to relieve the person posted there. But he would never reach, because at the intersection of Bocotora and Hicatee Streets, he was suddenly and brutally attacked. One eyewitness recounts what happened.
Eyewitness 1
The man mi di come from duty 'bout ten minutes to twelve, then two lay-wait ah, and deh gyah three chop, one on the forehead, one pan di hand and when he drop dey chop off di head.
Eyewitness 2
Dey shot ah first.
Alfonso Noble
Dey shot ah first?
Eyewitness 1
Then dey chop off his head. The man mi look manipulated. The head hang off ah the body.
Alfonso Noble
For his wife Oralia Miller, who saw her husband shortly before midnight last night as he left home with a radio, some money and his bicycle, the manner in which her husband met his end could have been foretold by the nature of his job. As a guard at the Queen's Square Market he often had to deal with thieves.
Oralia Mller
At work when a thief wanted to go in he'd oppose them, hold them and send them to the police. Yesterday, he told me that he wanted to stop working because it had gotten very dangerous and that a lot of people were getting killed and he did not want to run that risk.
Alfonso Noble
That risk was indeed a genuine one as a few months ago Miller had been in an encounter with a thief whom he had a physical confrontation with. The thief, says Oralia, issued a threat.
Oralia Miller
The thief told him that even if he was in jail for 50 years he would come out to get him. I don't know if it was for revenge or just robbery why they would want to kill him. I don't know.
Alfonso Noble
For the market vendors who knew him, they are as clueless as Miller's wife as to why anyone would want to kill him.
Angela Hyde
They tell me da Miller. I say, no main, how it wah be Miller, Miller dah wah straight lil' bally and thing, you know.
Phillip Leslie
He no, he wasn't an upstart guy. To me, at least. Whichin I neva had no contact with him. But he seemed to be a good guy.
Alfonso Noble
For Hyde who has to take her children to work everyday, the proximity to her place of business where Miller was killed is alarming not only for her but her children's life.
Angela Hyde
I deh out ya from six da morning 'till nine dah night and I mean to say, my kids dey have to deh out ya with me because I can't afford no babysitter and deh kinda thing deh, you know. So then I have to got dey out yah with me and deh kinda thing ridiculous. Then my lil' gial only three and I got two step-kids and thing. One five and one nine and a mean to say fi got dey' out ya and dey prone to dem danger deh, you know. I think it really ridiculous. I think fi we people dem really have to tighten up pan dis yah government or fi we leaders or whoever in charge because I mean to say kids pass through dis place yah all hours ah the day and night and if dem kinda danger deh yah, through ya and my kids dem deh trough yah, a mean to say it ridiculous maan.
Phillip Leslie
Well dey supposed to put a stop yah to these, these things. It turn worse now, nearly every day.
Alvin Hyde
As from ever since, way back you have a lot of killing around this side yah and we stay asking for constant patrol of the police, police men and so, but, you know, you have officers come out, patrol wah couple morning, evening and after that the patrol just drop and the crime just continue. Well if we have wah constant patrol like twenty four hours a day, definitely the crime wah drop but you can't say well, we wah prevent crime inna two hours dah morning and maybe wah couple hours dah night. You have to have wah constant twenty-four hours patrol.
Alfonso Noble
While Hyde believes in regular patrols as a deterrent there are those who believe in bringing out the hangman's noose.
Phillip Leslie
You have to start to hang dem man. When dey catch dem and dey guilty, hang dem. That dah the only way you could get rid of some of them. If you woulda start to hang them, but if you no hang dem it woulda never stop. It would continue.
Angela Hyde
I do believe it wah stop because I mean to say so much thing di happen and you no di hear nothing di happen. Man di go outa jail. Look pan di other day ya when somebody get killed and dis lil' bally weh deh yah, you hear he got so much murder charge and a mean to say he still deh out ya pan the street amongst we, a mean to say den deh dah ridiculousness. We no need fi di go through den deh.
Alfonso Noble
For now however, the only measure taken to deal with the crime problem and this case in particular was to throw some white lime and sand on the puddle of blood to cover a bad memory and smother the terrible taste left in the throats of every passerby.
Those calls for the death penalty have been resounding across the community for some time, and there is a significant development in that, which we'll have later in our newscast. But before that, we turn back to the Miller's murder, where police are looking for a Hispanic man who was seen fleeing from the area when they arrived at the murder scene. Those in the area report hearing gunshots, but police could not say if he had been shot - as well as being chopped to the face, forearm, and fatally to the neck - which was almost completely severed. Miller was the father of a 4 year old boy, and had been with the City Council for 7 years. As a historical footnote we note that this is the second murder at the Queen's Square Market. The first was in 1996 when vendor Diego Tzul was shot in the chest. The man convicted of the crime Wilfred Luriano was sentenced to hang - but because it happened six years ago - observers say that sentence may eventually be downgraded to life imprisonment.