Gunshots rang out at about a quarter to nine this morning on Baghdad Street in Belize City. Eight shots were fired and two of them hit 23 year old Frederick Flowers. He died a short time later in the arms of his cousin. It’s another saddening statistic from a city in the grips of a crime wave that just won’t end. Keith Swift has his story.
Keith Swift Reporting,
23 year old Frederick Flowers the third was gunned down in front of his family’s home on Baghdad Street. He had these slippers on his feet – and this machete in his hand - waiting to go to work when a gunman on a bike approached and opened fire.
Cousin of Murder Victim,
“I told him I was going to bathe and we left him out there and when we left him out there and we came in, we heard the gunshots and I told my mom we left Frederick out there. when we looked we saw him in the yard in front of the gate, they shot him. I was trying to question him and ask him what happened, who did this to you, and he tried to talk to me but because he was weak, he
couldn’t talk. He was grasping the ‘lone sand in his mouth.”
Eight expended shells were recovered from the scene. Police say two of the bullets hit Frederick.
Fitzroy Yearwood, Police Press Officer
“A lone gunman on a bicycle dressed in full black approached him, fired about 8 shots at him. Two caught him, one fatally injuring him. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the KHMH. The fatal shot, he was shot in the chest and the left leg.”
Keith Swift,
“Any suspects detained?”
Fitzroy Yearwood,
“Well not at this point but the investigation continues into it.”
Keith Swift,
“Any apparent motive?”
Fitzroy Yearwood,
“Well we cannot give motive because we don’t have any suspects
as yet. Motive has not been established.”
Cousin of Murder Victim,
“He was every known to kill nobody or do nobody nothing. Nothing he didn’t do nobody. He had eased down a lot.”
And that’s why his family can’t think of why someone wanted to kill Frederick. While the 23 year old has had run-ins in the past – on this morning he was waiting to go to work.
Charles Martinez, Stepfather
“I came to pick him up for work because we were going to work this morning but at the time I told him to wait by his granny and then we would come back come pick him up.”
Jules Vasquez,
“And when you got here?”
Charles Martinez,
“When I got here I saw a disaster out here, I was wondering what’s wrong.”
Cousin of Murder Victim,
“He dropped right down there on his face, right there in front of the gate. He was going to work. He was glad he was going to work. He was happy this morning. Every morning he comes here to hail my granny and hail all of we because this is the side he comes and wait for his father to work. I don’t know why they killed my cousin for honestly. We want justice, that’s all.”
Frederick Flowers made the news in March of 2008 when he swapped charge sheets with another prisoner in exchange for a chain while at the Queen Street Police Station.
