Last night a young man from Taylor's Alley was killed quite a distance away from his neighborhood. An unknown person took Burdon Garoy out to the Hattieville-Boom Road where they executed him with a high-powered, prohibited firearm.
His body was riddled with gunshot wounds, and the vicious nature of the murder has raised questions about whether it was gang related - since Garoy is from Taylor's alley, a gang-affiliated neighborhood.
Monica Bodden joined his family as they tried to find answers to the mystery of his murder.
Here is her report:
Monica Bodden Reporting
This blood mark on the right shoulder of the Boom/Hattievillie road is where the body of 26 year old Burthen Garay was seen lying.
He was found shot up - with gunshot wounds to the left side of his upper back, to the right shoulder and one to the head.
Four.45 ACP rounds were found in the area.
From the looks of things, it was an execution style killing- someone wanted him dead.
Raphael Martinez - Public Relations Officer, Police
"Last night at about 7:45, police visited the area of the Hattieville/Burrell Boom Road, where they saw the apparently lifeless body of a fair-complexioned male person. Upon further investigation, they found out that he is 26 year-old Burthen Garay of a Belize City address. Upon further investigation, they found what appear to be gunshot wounds to the center of the forehead. He had 3 additional gunshot wounds to the left-upper back area, and also 2 on his right shoulder. Upon processing the area, they found 4 expended shells with marks of ACP.45, and at this point, the body is at the Karl Heusner Memorial Morgue where it awaits a post mortem."
Elicia Lopez - Wife of the Deceased
"So Far, I heard that it was 4 gunshot wounds: 3 in the side, and 1 in the head."
Garay was last seen by his wife around 6:20 yesterday evening at his Taylor's Alley residence.
Less than an hour later he was found dead.
The sequence of events that played out within that span of time is still a mystery.
But what we do know is, Garay was found dead almost 20 miles out the city in a remote area about 200 yards away from a Dump-site.
Elicia Lopez
"The last time I saw my husband was at twenty minutes past six, when he came and a shouted for me. He asked me, 'Babe, what will we buy to eat?' I told him, 'Anything you buy, I will eat.' He said, 'Alright then, go and buy chicken breast, cook it, and we'll eat the breast with tortillas.' I said, 'Alright.' So I went and bought the chicken breast. He waited right at the gate until I came back. He said, 'Babe, did you get everything?' I told him I did. He told me that he was going back through the alley, and that was it, the last time I saw my husband. I received a call at about ten minutes to eight, that's when his sister came and shouted for me. She told me that they just found Garay dead. I asked her if she was serious. She told me that, yes, they had just found the dead body of her brother."
Who was it that picked up 26 year old Garay yesterday evening? And why did anyone want him dead?
Garay's wife of 7 years said she is trying to put together the pieces as she search for answers.
Elicia Lopez
"According to police, they said they found his body at 6:45. The last time I saw him was at about twenty minutes past six, and the spot where I saw him, it could have never taken 15 to 20 minutes to reach there. So it's left me to think. I really want to know. I'm interested; I want to know why my husband did. He didn't do anything to anyone. He didn't hurt anybody. He is always at home. We are always together. The only time we aren't together is when I am at work, and he never came and talked to me saying anything like this. I just want to know who did this to him. Who? He didn't tell me anything."
So far police are still searching for a motive and say no one has been detained for questioning in connection with the murder.
Raphael Martinez
"I'm sure that by the end of the day, we should be having something concrete to go on, but at this time, as it's a bit too early, we don't have anybody detained, but police continue to comb the area to find what additional information they can find to help with this case. We don't have anybody detained at this point, but I'm sure that hopefully by the end of this week, we should be getting some sort of person of interest or somebody detained."
Elicia Lopez
"We haven't gotten any information, none. The way I found the body at the spot, they have a checkpoint on the Western Highway, and they have one on the Northern Highway. So they don't have police within that time period to check vehicles? What is the Government doing? This is getting out of control. Things are getting out of order. Innocent people are dying for nothing."
No one has been detained.
