There was a ruthless seaside execution in Belize City on Friday night. Around 11:30, 29-year-old Earl Figueroa was fatally shot by gunmen on bicycles on Southern Foreshore. Tonight police say they have suspects but have made no arrests. We today spoke to Figueroa's family who say they believe he was chased to his death. Here's why.
Keith Swift Reporting,
Earl Figueroa's body was found face down in a drain here at the corner of South Street and Southern Foreshore just before midnight on Friday. The discovery was made by tourism police officers were on bike patrol in the area and heard
two gunshots. Figueroa had been shot once to the left side of his chest, and the TPU officers saw two men leaving the area on bicycles
Earl's cousin Ernest Smith is the probably the last family member who saw him alive. Smith says the two were hanging out on Friday night when Earl said he was going to visit his girlfriend. Those were the last words Ernest shared with his cousin.
Ernest Smith, Cousin of Deceased
"We were drinking some booze along with some of our friends, because some of our friends just came in from America. So we were hanging out and he said he was going out and he came back. But then he said he was going out again. So he went on a person's bike and the person was looking for him but they did not find him. So later on, the next day morning, probably about four o'clock someone came and said that the man was in the morgue."
Earl Figueroa's mother Philippa Longsworth was heading to work around 5 am on Saturday when she got the news that her son's body was in the morgue.
Phillippa Longsworth, Mother of Deceased
"Yagga asked me what am I doing out here and I told him I was going to work. And he said, 'you are going to work and your son is in the morgue.' So I told him to stop telling me lies. He said yes and I turned back from where I was going to work and I came home and when I looked up at my son's house I saw the padlock. Then I believed and from then I jumped to Miss Codd over there and she told me to get into her pickup and we went to the dead house. And when we got to the dead house, and when I hauled up the thing, it was my son right there."
Phillippa Longsworth can't think of any reason for her son's seaside execution. She says he wasn't perfect but he also wasn't a street criminal.
Phillippa Longsworth,
"He wasn't perfect, I am telling you. I said it is when that bullet started to circle around his head, he started to make a lot of noise. He made a lot of noise around the place here and I talked to him, I talked to him. I told him to behave and he told me I don't know what is happening to him. I took him to the doctor and I told him to try and get that bullet out of his head but he still didn't go. I know my son isn't perfect but I know he doesn't mess with people on the street and rob anyone's purse and thing because everyday he has money in his pocket. But the most thing he wanted to do was work but he couldn't get a job anywhere."
But Ernest Smith says that Earl Figueroa's mental problems caused by the bullet which was lodged in his head from that shooting incident two years did earn him some enemies.
Ernest Smith,
"He had some dispute with some gentlemen about some vehicle glass broken up and thing but we don't know the person who the vehicle belonged to."
Jackie Woods, Channel 5
"You're saying it was as a result of an old gunshot injury that caused him to be a little bit unstable and that led him to go around and vandalize vehicles?
Ernest Smith,
"That's right. The gunshot wound was in his head between the jaw and the left temple or to the right temple and so now and again he would get a little crazy."
But not even Smith can think of a motive for the murder.
Ernest Smith,
"I want to know who it is that killed my cousin and why they killed my cousin because my little cousin, he is a person who gives trouble. He gives trouble, I won't say he doesn't give trouble, he gives trouble, but I still want to know why they killed my little cousin."
And now as she grieves over the loss of her second born son - Phillippa Longsworth just wants to know those two things: she who did it and why.
Phillippa Longsworth,
"I hope they catch the killer or the killer comes out and says they did it and why they did it because I want to know the reason why they killed him...I don't know why they killed him."
Police today detained a friend of Earl Figueroa. It was his bike which Figueroa actually borrowed on the night he was killed. Police say they do not believe the detainee to be a suspect in the murder but rather he can assist them with the investigation. Later on, we'll tell you about the weekend's second murder, but first...
