And while all this furious back and forth causes tremors the corridors of power, it's still, war on the streets. After a brief respite, the hostilities between two Belize City gangs, namely the Back-A-Town and George Street flared up again today. At mid-morning two members of the George Street crew were shot while an innocent bystander received serious injuries from the stray bullets. Troy "Dread" Tillet was hot to his arm and back while his brother Gerald "Shynie" Tillet was shot to the left side of the neck. The fruit vendor Carlos Barrera sustained the most serious injuries, being shot to the chest and head. 7NEWS was on the scene, and here's what happened.
Alfonso Noble Reporting,
Investigators were called out at around 9 this morning to the corner of George and Dean Streets where fruit vendor Carlos Barrera had been shot. Barrera was in the area selling his fruits when a brown vehicle drove by opening fire on two other men who were also in the area. They are identified as Troy and Gerald Tillet.
Crispin Jeffries, Assistant Commissioner of Police
"We got information of shots being fired and vehicles being pursued. The police joined that pursuit and followed a vehicle to the Reggae Street area where we found what we believe to be the car that was the vehicle form which the shots were fired. A second vehicle was pursued, it was followed and caught up with on north Creek. We can't speculate as to who the victim is but we do know he is a vendor and from indications, neighbors are saying he would normally pass through that area on his rounds to do the sales daily. So we assume that he may be a bystander as opposed to an intended victim.
We are saying that the Tillet brothers were in the George Street area at the time of the shooting. We are saying that they may have pursued the vehicle. We are saying that we caught up with those persons after hearing about shots being fired around Belize City and the police joined and intercepted both vehicles in separate locations. We did not apprehend anybody in respect to the Reggae Street vehicle that we recovered. We did in fact find and spoke to the Tillet brothers who had received injuries."
The Tillets were found here in the old city council compound road behind the south side fire station. And while police apprehended them here residents in the are were unhappy with the police presence.
Resident,
"We was in the back and we were trying to come through the alley to come here and he did not want us to come through the alley and he fired shots. I am saying that that is crazy because the police could have shot somebody that didn't have anything to do with what's really going on. I don't know what kind of force they have here, what's really going on here."
ACP Crispin Jeffries,
"The general Belizean populace is so incensed about shootings and so caught up with the drama of it that they do not give the police the chance to work freely. They are standing in the way, they aggress you, they want to take over, they want to interfere with the people you deal with. The public does not allow the police to work unimpeded and there are times when the police need to tell those people to move away; do things that will tell those people to move away."
Alfonso Noble,
Is that what happened this morning?
ACP Crispin Jeffries,
"I don't know. I don't know what you are talking about. I am saying that if the police is out there doing a duty and the people obstruct the police..."
Alfonso Noble,
There is one woman in particular who claims that there were police officers, at least yourself, who fired a weapon in the area.
ACP Crispin Jeffries,
"I fired a shot in the area, yes I did and I believe that is what you are leading to and I am not afraid to say yes I fired a shot."
Alfonso Noble,
Was that to dissuade the crowd that was coming?
ACP Crispin Jeffries,
"Not to dissuade the crowd. I cleared a firearm. The firearm was loaded and I was moving into an area where there is a lot of people and I cleared the firearm."
And while Jeffries explains his actions as the police continued their work in the shootings, they had to take precautionary measures at the hospital. Armed police and BDF personnel were placed at the hospital=s accident and emergency area and again family members of the shooting victims were not pleased.
Sister of Troy Tillet,
"I just came to see the young man, Troy Tillet, and at the door the officer over there told me that I cannot go in and he wished Troy had died. I don't know anything about it, I just came to see him. He told me I had no right to stand up by the hospital. What kind of law is that now which says that I cannot go in."
ACP Crispin Jeffries,
"The hospital is a place for the public. The police must, when we see a threat, must step up our security. The hospital is a government institution. It is a government building, it is a place where the general public accesses and believe that security in those places for the general public must be increased when such incidents occur."
All three shooting victims remain at the KHMH tonight undergoing treatment. Barrera receive multiple gunshot injuries to his chest and is in a guarded condition. Meanwhile police have impounded the two vehicles believed to be involved in the shooting and are looking for the occupants of the brown car.
