Yesterday, Belizeans did their best to try and celebrate Garifuna Settlement Day, as a virtual event, stripped of its charge and energy by COVID-19 regulations. Then, there is the flooding all over the country that is being caused by the remnants of Hurricane Iota, which has battered Central America for several days.
And, if the pandemic or the constant downpour didn't throw off the festive mood, the shocking murder of 57-year-old Sean Menzies certainly ruined it for many Belizeans. He's one of Bowen & Bowen's most well-known employees. In fact, during his long career, his daily interactions with customers as one of the company's most experienced representatives earned him the nickname, "Mr. B&B".
So, why was he killed in a street-style execution just before midnight on Wednesday? That's the difficult question that our news team tried to tackle today. Daniel Ortiz reports:
Since his senseless murder on Wednesday night,
Sean Menzies, a long-time staff member of Bowen and Bowen, has been receiving an outpouring of love from all the Belizeans countrywide whose lives he touched over his four decades with the beverage company.
His Bowen family knows all too well about his ability to make friends with people from all walks of life.
Aaron John Palacio - Public Relations Coordinator, Bowen & Bowen
"Honestly, I don't know where to start. Having fond memories of Sean is what everybody would have. I think that anybody else doing this interview would tell you, 'I don't know where to start.' He had a lot of catchphrases, and I could tell you [about] one off the bat, 'hog heaven and monkey glory.' It simply means that you know, we're having a good time."
Sean's easy-going personality was why his family, friends, and peers were blindsided when news went out that he had been shot and killed outside his home on Lancaster Street in Belize City.
He arrived home from a family gathering - took his wife inside, and then stepped outside to have a smoke in front of the gate, as he often did.
That's where an acquaintance engaged him in a passing conversation. Reports are that this neighbourhood acquaintance might have been the target of a shooter on the prowl.
Neighbours had seen suspicious men circling the area, and our sources believe that the target may have realized the danger, and left Lancaster Street. So, when the shooters passed back in front of Sean's house, he was the only one in sight.
They shot him in the back, and when he turned to defend himself, shot him in the head. Sean Menzies was left to bleed out at the entrance to his yard.
ASP Alejandro Cowo
"We are trying to establish a motive and we cannot tell you at this time if he was the target or not. He was the only person there at the time, so we are communicating with family members to determine if he had had any other previous misunderstanding or any other dispute with any other persons that might have led to this unfortunate incident."
Reporter
"What has those questioning unveil in terms of any past disputes?"
ASP Alejandro Cowo
"Nothing so far, so we are still puzzled as to why him and if he was the target or not. I know that Mr. Menzies was a person that was a very good character and where we work had a reputation and as I had mentioned we are still trying to establish whether or not he was the target and what was the motive behind that shooting."
Reporter
"Residents in the Kelly Street area says that they saw guys who they suspected might have been the killers circling the area and they are saying that the guys were looking for someone else and they are speculating that because they couldn't find that their target, they just randomly killed somebody else."
ASP Alejandro Cowo
"We have spoken to some of the neighbors there and as I mentioned we are following all the leads that are coming out. Yes, that is one of the rumors that is being said there and hence the reason I am telling you that we are not sure if he was the target and if he was the intended target why it happened to him."
And while the cops try to bring his killers to justice, his family, whether they're related by blood or through shared experiences, will have to hold on to the fond memories they have of him.
Aaron John Palacio - Public Relations Coordinator, Bowen & Bowen
"When I got here, Sean greeted me, told me, 'I told you that it was going to work [out].' Great conversations, [I] learned a lot, so much so, that Sean could look at a vehicle, and tell you exactly how much soft drinks or beers could fit within that, and what the cost of it is. After 41 years of being a part of a company such as this one, who wouldn't be able to?"
"He was known as 'Mr. B&B', of course, he was much more than that. He was a family man. He was a friend. He was a comedian, a hard worker, a hard B&B worker. That's who he was. For sure, there are countless people across the country who similar memories, like I'm sharing with you. He had a gift for making people around him feel comfortable."
"When we do the Belikin Calendar, and you have to pick up the girls, and you have to take them around, comfort - everybody would say following that, 'I wanna thank Sean."
"So, for us, knowing that he was a part of this team, knowing that he touched our lives, we are so proud to say that, at least we knew him."
We reached out to several of the family members of Sean Menzies for an interview, but they declined. He was the father of three adult children. No date has been set for his funeral.
