And we turn now from that happy news - to another grim weekend of killings, one of the bloodiest we've had in a while. And it all started on Friday, NOT coincidentally. the first night without curfew in a month.
The killers came out stalking their prey, and and by midnight on Friday, there would be two dead in the Belize District.
The first victim was Oniel Ferguson, killed in his Hattieville home as he and his girlfriend were lying down watching TV. Cherisse Halsall has the story:
This is the home that 23-year-old Oniel Ferguson shared with his girlfriend Rondine Gillett. That was up until Friday night when Ferguson was killed, by a gunman who fired at the couple right through their bedroom window. Two days later Ferguson's mother is still grieving but she holds no illusions about the man her son was.
Cheri Sanchez, Mother of the deceased
"He was not a good person, I won't take up for my son and I won't lie to anybody because he wasn't good. He was bad the same way."
"My niece from Hattieville called and told me that they had just shot him. I just walked over to the next side of the street where my other daughter lives and I went to tell her."
Cherisse Halsall:
"What were your emotions at that time?"
Cheri Sanchez, Mother of the deceased
"We broke down and cried, I couldn't hold that back in because they caught us by surprise they caught us in a way where. I just broke down and cried."
While Ferguson was shot eight times, his girlfriend, who was also shot but escaped with her life.
Hilberto Romero, Sr.Supt- Deputy Head N.C.I.B.
"On Friday the fourth day of September 2020 police visited a house at Windmill area Hattieville village where upon arrival they found the lifeless body of Oniel Ferguson with gunshot injuries information revealed that he was at his house along with his girlfriend Rondine Gillett when they heard someone tampering with their window and they made checks at which point several gunshots were heard. Rondine Gillett received several gunshot injuries to the arm and Ferguson was taken to the K.H.M.H. where he pronounced dead on arrival. One person is detained for an investigation into this matter."
Reporter:
"Sir do we know why Ferguson was killed?"
Hilberto Romero, Sr.Supt- Deputy Head N.C.I.B.
"We are looking at that to determine if it is connected to the other shootings that have occurred in that area in the past. We are looking at that to see if he has an affiliation with the persons that were involved in different rivals there."
But if Ferguson was a gang member his mother says she never knew it. And this evening she reflected on whether his silence could have been for his family's protection.
Cheri Sanchez, Mother of the deceased
"I never even knew that he was being targeted because he's not a person that likes to talk, with how he stammered it wasn't like he talked to anybody, maybe he talked to his friends that he hung out with there but I don't know he wasn't really like down to earth with his mom."
"He was good to his family, you know, friends that he had good to them, you know so we didn't have any problem with him or anything."
"Obviously he didn't want to put his mom in any danger or anything or even his sisters or brothers so he didn't really talk to me like that."
Police recovered 12 9 millimetre expended shells at the scene and Ferguson was shot 8 times.
His girlfriend, Rhondine Gillett has been released from the Hospital.
