It has been a very deadly 24 hours. First, three were killed in the city yesterday. Second, police have killed a wanted fugitive, and third, another dead body has been found in the Cayo District. We’ll have all those stories, but we begin in Belize City. Last night two men were shot within hours of each other in the Lake Independence area. Earlier in the evening, another man was stabbed and he also later died. We begin our coverage with last night’s first shooting; 7NEWS was on the scene.
Keith SwiftReporting,
Last night we met armed police and BDF soldiers on guard outside and a crime scene team scouring inside this yard on Lavender Street. 21 year old Travis Westby was shot in this narrow alley. This thick pool of blood marks the spot where he was killed. Nikita Valencia lives in the yard. She didn’t see the shooting but she heard the shots.
Nikita Valencia, Witness
“We just heard a lot of gunshots. Well we heard one gunshot first and then a whole amount after that and we just did what anybody frightened would and we locked up the house and stayed inside until we heard police come. That is all I heard.”
Keith Swift,
When you came outside did you actually see anything?
Nikita Valencia,
“We just saw a lot of people on the street and police and we still
stayed upstairs because we never did come down stairs to see.”
Keith Swift,
I know you were making tea but you didn’t hear any argument between the guys or anything?
Nikita Valencia,
“No we didn’t hear any argument, nothing at all – just the gunshots.”
Those gunshots hit Westby in the abdomen, left eye, chin, right arm, and two on the leg. His aunt Georgia Nicholson says the family doesn’t know much – other than the facts that Travis was killed in his girlfriend’s yard.
Georgia Nicholson, Aunt of Travis Westby
“Travis was shot down at his girlfriend’s house. Police can’t give us who did it. The murder it is very terrible. It is very shocking because Travis left home very happy and he left home to go to work as usual and normally straight after work he goes to my mom and then from my mom he goes to his girlfriend and then from that he comes back later in the night back to sleep.”
But that didn’t happen last night. He was killed in this yard. The family is at a loss as to why someone wanted him dead and shot him so many times.
Georgia Nicholson,
“Travis for me is not only a nephew, he is a brother and he is well loved by his family and we don’t know who did this and we just want them to know that Travis has a family, he has a family that loves him, and God be with the individual and their conscience who did that to him.
Everyone that knows Travis loves him. He has a lot of friends. He makes friends very easy. He finished his high school, I think it was a year and a half or two years ago. He had a lot of ambition and one of his aims was to get a family just as any other human being; get a family, settle down, and one day have a life.”
But that life ended at 8 pm – and three hours later his friend 23 year old Kenton Lewis was killed. This is where Kenton Lewis was shot, in the Cordel Hyde Housing Site area of Lake Independence. It happened around 11 pm. He had supper at his mom’s house and was heading home. His mother Darlene Lewis told us off camera that her son had just left her house when she heard the shots.
Darlene Lewis, Mother of Kenton Lewis
“I didn’t think it was him because I know that he gave me the confidence that he has beef with nobody. As a matter of fact Kenton doesn’t even hang out. He is a homely person, he is always babysitting his two kids
if he is not hard at work trying to supply their needs.”
And that’s why his aunt Denita Lewis Brakeman is puzzled.
Denita Lewis Brakeman, Aunt of Kenton Lewis
“Words cannot explain because last night he was at my mom’s house, at his grandmother’s house and then he had a flat tire for his bicycle. They found a tube and fixed up his bike so he could go home. He went home and he eat and that’s what happened – tragedy struck. I don’t have no idea. I don’t have no idea why. I wish I had. He was a loving father, nephew, son, he has two children and he takes of his kids just like he is the mother.”
Keith Swift,
And he wasn’t a ‘bad man?’
Denita Lewis Brakeman,
“No, no. He was not in any gang or anything like that.”
Travis and Kenton were friends. The families disagree on how close that friendship was but the families don’t believe the murders are connected. The families and area residents do agree on one thing though.
Nikita Valencia,
“You don’t know where to go or when to go and who or you don’t know what to think. It is just like when it is your turn it is your turn, no matter what you do or where you go – it is still for you. That is all I could say.”
Denita Lewis Brakeman,
“I know I serve a God and he does not give us a spirit of fear but a spirit of fear but a spirit of a sound mind but at the same time we have to use wisdom and sometimes I don’t even want to send my son to the shop. He doesn’t go to parties or nothing and everyday I just pray for the blood of Jesus over my kids. He is a student of UB, very very good student, no problem, no upstart, no disobedienceness, and I am just scared. It is scary, really scary.”
And increasingly deadly. Reporting for 7NEWS, Keith Swift.
Police have made no arrests – and we’ll have comments from investigators talking about the murders later on.
