Violence erupted in the city last night with a string of shooting and the retaliations and aftershocks continued into today.
A 25-year-old man was killed in Belize City this afternoon. At around 1:25 police were called out to Olympic Restaurant located on Cemetery Road where they found the body of 25-year-old David Vasquez. He had been shot numerous times and his body was found on the verandah of the upper flat of the restaurant where he had run for cover from a gunman who was chasing him. But he did not escape death: 7NEWS was on the scene here's what happened.
Alfonso Noble Reporting, Email - [alfnoble@yahoo.com]
A crowd gathered on Cemetery Road in front of Olympic Restaurant to get a glimpse of the body of 25 year old David Vasquez whose body was strewn on the verandah of the restaurant with three gunshot wounds, two to the chest and one to the neck. Businessmen nearby who wished not to appear on camera recount what they heard and saw at around 1:25 this afternoon.
Witness #1,
"The guy was chasing another guy and the guy ran through the restaurant and there is a backdoor at the restaurant. He went through the backdoor and up the steps but by the time he reached the verandah, the other guy shot him three times and he came back down and got on his bicycle and rode away. We heard three gunshots. He dropped his bicycle and ran through restaurant and probably he knew they were chasing him so that's why he ran. He went up to the restaurant and by the time he reached the verandah he got shot."
Witness #2,
"I was cutting somebody's hair when this four shots happened. I heard four shots and when I looked upstairs it was because the person was on the ground. I just saw the person just run upstairs and run up the street. There was a police right at the corner of West Street and he was just looking around."
Alfonso Noble,
They didn't try to detain the suspect?
Witness #2,
"No way, they weren't doing nothing."
And while that's his belief, this afternoon what the police did do was take out the bloodied body of Vasquez in a stretcher, as his girlfriend watched in stunned disbelief. She cried while Vasquez's grandfather Magistrate Eric Fairweather looked on. For those in the area this scene could have been foretold as last night another man Alvin Cumberbatch was shot in almost the same spot. He was standing near Trench Alley that runs alongside the restaurant.
Witness #1,
"There was gunshots around here last night."
Alfonso Noble,
You think it may be related?
Witness #1,
"Yeah but I don't live around here but there was gunshots around here last night too."
Alfonso Noble,
This doesn't surprise you?
Witness #1,
"No."
Witness #2,
"As I heard the bang I pulled down my shutters because I didn't want them to run over this side and do me something too. I am really afraid right now to see things happening like this just like that and then they are not having the police patrols often. This is not the first time it has happened, it has happened more than one time."
This time however a life was claimed and while the Chinese business man tried to wash off the blood that was left on the verandah, the hope is that the memory of another young man gunned down in broad daylight in downtown Belize City can not be washed away as easily.
Police are investigating this latest killing and are trying to determine if it is related to a couple incidents that had occurred earlier on. The first was when a 23 year old was shot last night. Alvin Cumberbatch told police that at around 8:50 he and other men were standing in front of the restaurant when he heard four gunshots and realized he'd been hit as he ran through the alley. He was treated at the KHMH for a gunshot to the right foot just below the knee. The second incident is one which occurred this afternoon in which reports are there was an altercation in front of the same restaurant during which time some young men chopped the tires of a bicycle.
