And while those 74 murders were recorded at the end of September, there have been three murders in October already. And two of those are gang related: the killing of George Murphy in Placencia is believed to have led to the murder of Nelisha Nolberto in Belize city a few days later.
Yesterday, we asked the commissioner about keeping down this spike in gang activity:
Chester Williams - Commissioner of Police
"It is not yet where we want it to be. Things are still pretty much volatile in Belize City and my self and Mr. Rosado spoke this morning when I was in Belize City and again we continue to see how we can strategize. We are going into a long weekend, we want to ensure that our people remain safe during this coming weekend and so from a law enforcement standpoint I want to assure the Belizean people particularly those in Belize City that we are going to do what needs to be done to ensure that they will be able to enjoy the long weekend as best as they can while adhering to the Covid-19 protocols."
