Around 8:20 last night, shots rang out in the Yabra area and when the smoke cleared one man was lying on the ground with multiple gunshot wounds. Carlton Tasher was shot at close range, and tonight police say they know for sure who did it. Jacqueline Godwin has the story.
Voice of Area Resident,
"When we hear the shots so hard, I know it was close so I lock my door because I think it was right in front of my house. So I lock my door because shots can come in you know, I just lock my door hurry then when the shots finish I just come out and see what had happen. Then I see that it was him."
And what had happen is that this young man identified as twenty one year old Carlton Tasher aka 'Guilty' was standing at the corner of Gill and T Streets. He had just finished talking to a young girl and was reportedly waiting for her to return when a lone gunman approached him and opened fire. The bullets from a nine-millimeter pistol sprayed across his body.
Aaron Guzman, Commander - CIB
"He had several gunshot wounds that we have seen so far to his body in his mid section, to his left side and left center and the center of his chest. One on his left finger and left leg have a wound each. We recovered from the scene seven expended shells, one fragmented and one slug. They are of nine millimeter caliber."
Voice of Area Resident,
"I hear only three gunshots the first time and then I hear the rest of the gunshots. Then I just push my door and when I come outside I see the man, his face was on the ground and he was lying on the ground."
Area residents in fear of their own lives did not wish to appear on camera however they told 7NEWS that by the time they reached the victim he was already dying and lying face down on the pavement.
Voice of Area Resident,
"I was in my house and afterwards I just hear lots of shots and when I hear the shot them, I run and I locked my house door and after a little minute after I stop hear the shots and pulled open my door and came outside to see what had happen and I walked out on the street and I see somebody on the street the lay down. So I holler for a next young boy and told him let's go check him and see who it is because we were scared to go because we did not know if the gunman was still there. So afterwards when me and the young boy approached him and he turn him over, we see that it was guilty. And so we holler and holler for help because like nothing was, no taxi, no vehicle nothing was passing and we hollered for help and they put him in a vehicle and they took him."
Jacqueline Godwin,
Was he talking at that time?
Voice of Area Resident,
"Nothing, nothing, nothing. We were asking him it was what, who but nothing, nothing, nothing."
Carlton Tasher was no stranger to the police. In fact he was out 0n bail when he was killed. On October tenth he was arrested and charged for attempted murder. Tasher had been remanded but on November sixth was granted bail and released.
Aaron Guzman,
"As we know Mr. Tasher is no stranger to the law, no stranger to being on the news. It is unfortunate though that he met an untimely death."
It is not known if Tasher's recent run in with the law had anything to do with his murder but word on the street is that he may have been set up on Wednesday night. Th police are investigating the homicide from all angles.
Aaron Guzman,
"Well I cannot say that we have a direct motive but as we might refer to it Mr. Tasher was a street person. He had been involved in previous shootings, he was arrested before for the charge of murder which he eventually got off of so we have to be open minded and look at several different motive right now."
While the police have yet to determine a motive and locate the murder weapon the officer in charge of Crimes Investigation Branch Supt. Aaron Guzman says they have arrested the person they believe is the triggerman. This afternoon
the accused twenty two year old Carl Anthony Edwards was taken over to Magistrate's Court. The murder was the second for Belize City for 2008.
Aaron Guzman,
"Each and every murder is of concern to the Police Department and to keep it a very minimal level is our ideal goal. How far we will get in that direction, it will take some support from the public and we will keep the police out there, the extra patrols. I don't know if you noted that although the Christmas has passed we are still having extra patrols and operations out there so we will do our part and we continue to ask the public to do their part and they have been assisting us and that is why we have been able to deal with these investigations quite quickly."
Guzman denied reports that police refused to assist Tasher when he was being rushed to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. That's when he tumbled out of the back of a civilian pickup truck at the roundabout. Guzman says it did happen, but his officers did not act irresponsibly.
Aaron Guzman,
"I don't think that's the way it occurred. Now as I said earlier we know Mr. Tasher as he has been in contact with the police before but I must say though that it is a life lost and our job as the police is not to pass judgment on anyone. We are there to investigate any crime against anybody and I hope that our officers, rank and file understand that and that is what we hope to do."
Jacqueline Godwin for 7NEWS.
But while the Belize City police believe they've very quickly closed the case on Carlton Tasher's murder with the arrest of Carl Anthony Edwards, the family and friends of the accused man say the police arrested the wrong man. This evening his father Chester Ferguson told 7NEWS that his son is not guilty. But it's not just a father jumping to his son's defence. Ferguson says his son was not even in Belize City at the time the killing occurred but that he was up north with some friends. When 7NEWS contacted one of the friends he told us that he, Edwards and two others had left Belize City around ten on Tuesday morning for the Corozal border and did not return to the city until 10:30 last night. They have since given their statements saying just that to police.
