A fisherman was killed yesterday evening, and tonight three of his friends are detained for the murder. Three men, possibly those two friends, opened fire simultaneously with two guns and killed 24-year-old Jose Noe Barrow. It happened shortly after 6:30, just as the city was learning about Sunday night's shooting spree on the evening news. Here's the story.
Keith SwiftReporting,
Police say that around 7 last night Noel Barrow was hanging out here in the Conch Shell Bay area when he was shot. The name on his voter's ID is actually Jose Noe Barrow and police say he was shot five times in his head with both a nine-millimeter and a 380 pistol. He made it to the hospital alive but died shortly after. A resident who lives in the area spoke to us off camera. She says she was watching the 6:30 news when she heard the gunshots.
Area Resident,
"I was in my house listening to the news, me and my children, and suddenly I heard 'bang, bang, bang,' and I looked outside and I opened my door, looked out, and I saw some police running that way and this way and I went back in my house and closed the door. That's all I can tell you."
CIB Chief Chester Williams says they are still searching for a motive. But so far they've ruled out drugs and robbery. They have three suspects and believe it was a simple argument which turned deadly. Even more troubling is that Barrow may have been killed by his friends.
Supt. Chester Williams, C.I.B. Commander
"At this time we believe that there were three persons and we have two of the three in custody. We are still looking for the other person. It could be more or it least could be less but we are keeping our investigation open. We are looking at all angles to see how best we could investigate the case properly."
Keith Swift,
Does this seem to be something that was an old beef?
Supt. Chester Williams,
"I will not say that it is an old beef but I'll say we are still investigating. We have not established a motive. After having established a motive, then we could say basically what may have been the cause of it. We understand from our investigation that there was an argument just prior to the shooting and we believe that the shooting occurred out of that argument. So we will not say it is a result of any old beef. They are friends, they are people who hang out together, so we do not believe it is a old beef. Presently we have in custody three persons who we believe are responsible for the shooting death of Noel Barrow. However we will not be carrying their names out at this time because we have a few things that we need to confirm before we could really say they are the persons or suspects that we are looking for. We will try and wrap up that investigation between now and tomorrow."
But an arrest won't make grieving any easier for Noel's father Alfred Barrow. The veteran fisherman rushed in from Turneffe Island this morning after hearing about his son's murder on the radio.
Alfred Barrow, Father
"It is my son, my second son. I will miss him. I will miss him a lot.
He was good to me. Maybe some people said he was bad to them but I didn't know him as a bad man. He never did anything in my presence which would make me say he is bad. Maybe he was mischievous when he was going to school because the teachers used to complain to me but apart from that I don't know."
Alfred says he will remember Noel, which is what everyone knew him as- as a son who loved fishing. Barrow told us that as a child growing up, Noel chose the fishing hook over a pen and paper.
Alfred Barrow,
"Noel didn't complete school because he liked fishing. I had problems with him and the teacher and thing because all Noel talked about was fishing and he didn't study his work so I had to go and talk to Social Department and they gave Noel to me and I took him out as a fisherman. So now he is like a top man in his trade."
But there'll be no more fishing trips for Noel Barrow. He is now dead and this morning his prized 23-foot skiff the "Martita 2" was docked at Conch Shell Bay - a reminder to his dad of the trade his son loved so much.
Again, police expect to make formal arrests shortly. For background, we note that in July of this year Francis Longsworth, the security guard at Barrow's property on Turneffe Island, was tortured and killed. Police at the time said it appeared to have been drug related.
