There’s a lot to report tonight in politics, crime and sports…and we begin with crime. One man was shot to death on Easter Sunday and police have moved swiftly to make arrests. But the arrests are hardly a consolation for his grieving family – who say this Cayo boy was a victim of mistaken identity in a city where criminals shoot first and ask questions later.
Jacqueline Godwin Reporting,
31 year old Windell Allen was shot in the face on at 7:30 on Sunday night here at the entrance to the park near Armadillo Street. Nine hours later police arrested their prime suspects nineteen year old Nelson Martinez and twenty two year old Gilbert Martinez.
And though he did not die on the spot, doctors say Allen never had a chance. He was already unconscious when he was taken to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital where doctors worked on him for two hours. He was declared brain dead and on Monday his family decided to take their loved one off the life support.
Isolene Estell, Aunt of murder victim
“The bullet went in by his eyes and the bone diverted it up so it shattered his brains and so from that moment he was unconscious and unresponsive so the life support is what kept him alive until my sister came yesterday. We waited until she came from Cayo yesterday and then they made the decision to take him off the life support.”
Today the Martinez brothers were charged with murder and conspiracy to commit
murder. They allegedly shot Allen as he was with a group of friends. According to the head of Crimes Investigation Branch in Belize City ASP Aaron Guzman, their investigation reveals that there was problem between the brothers and Allen’s friends over a firearm that had been stolen previously and a cell phone that was stolen from one of the accused earlier that day.
ASP Aaron Guzman, Head – CIB
“I won’t get into the firearm portion but I will say about the telephone, if these two men accused of the killing of Allen, if one of them choose to make an official statement where we understand that his cell phone may have been robbed from him by one of Allen’s friends then we will go ahead and prefer charges against Allen’s friends that it is alleged robbed him of his cell phone.”
Information to 7NEWS is that following the dispute, the Martinez brothers left the area but returned on their bicycles. By then some of Allen’s friends had left. And his family believes their son and nephew was in the wrong place at the wrong time when he was mistakenly shot.
Isolene Estell,
“He went to visit his friend, to take some bicycle part for him and then two boys were riding on the bicycle with guns looking for someone and they saw him standing there and then they asked him where the person was but he didn’t know who they were talking about. So he just said he didn’t know but they didn’t even give him a chance, they just shot him – shot him in the face.”
Brenda Allen, Mother of murder victim
“Yes I understand they took him for somebody else, I understand it, but I don’t know they could take him for someone else. I don’t know how.”
Isolene Estell,
“Windell he was very kind, very mannerly. He was not someone that used to get in trouble, he was not that type of person. He came to Belize City to work and he only had one friend and that is the friend he went to visit the night he got shot.”
Windell Allen who is a resident of the Cayo District had only moved to Belize City one month ago to seek employment when he was shot.
Brenda Allen,
“I worried, although he went and told me he was coming but when I heard it, I said I should have told him not to come and to try to look for a work up there better. But Jackie, that was to happen. No matter what he did, maybe that is how he was supposed to go. That is what I say, although I feel it. I feel it bad; I don’t eat, I don’t sleep, I don’t drink – I am just begging God to give me a strong heart so I can get through it.
I always heard about it Jackie, I does all the time see mothers crying and I does pity those mothers. I used to say it really hurts them. But I guess it is today for you and tomorrow for me, I does always say it. I does all time see them crying but now I know it really hurts. It hurts bad too.”
But as the Allen family struggles to cope with the loss of their loved one, today the police were upbeat, proud of the quick arrest – and eager to give credit to the community.
ASP Aaron Guzman,
“If it is that an offense is committed and the persons who witness that crime or offense being committed make a statement then that helps the police because obviously we were not there; we were given statements. Based on those statements and the testimonies of those witnesses, we have made that arrest. We really appreciate what the community has put in, the efforts by them to cooperate with us and tell us what they knew and what they know about that particular crime and that helped us to make an arrest.”
Gilbert and Nelson Martinez residents of 63 West Wtreet are tonight on remand at Hattieville Prison until their next court appearance on April third. For 7NEWS, Jacqueline Godwin.
The police have a weapon, but cannot confirm that it is the murder weapon.
