Tonight, there's a family in mourning for a husband, a father, and a breadwinner. It's one of those rarer Belize City murders with no motive and very little explanation.
The result being that Augustin Coc who, like the rest of us, should have been looking forward to spending a quarantine Christmas at home has been forever separated from his wife and young family.
Here's that story.
There was a tragedy on Partridge Street last night, 28-year-old Augustine Coc gunned down, shot in the back while on his way home from work. It's a scenario that neither Augustin nor anyone close to him would ever have contemplated as his end. And this evening with his wife too distraught to relive the events, his brother-in-law spoke to us off-camera to explain how she came to hear the sounds of her husband's demise.
Voice of: Augustin's Brother-in-Law
"He clocked off work around 6:30, he made it around, they dropped him off by Cemetery Road/Partridge around 6:54 and he was walking down Partridge, called my sister and asked my sister if she wanted something to eat. And my sister was like no, she didn't want anything to eat - food is at home. He insisted, he said babe I will bring something for us to eat and she said okay then. So at that time she heard the first shot and she heard Augustin asked what happened and after that she heard a couple shots after that. She hollered babe and she didn't get any response, so she heard somebody in the background, a female voice saying he is is dead let's go. She called back again and she didn't get any answer. So now she got a feeling like something happened to him. Some pictures were circulating already and one of my sister came to me and showed me some pictures and said isn't this Augustin, so I look at the picture and then I realize that it looked like Augustin, so we rushed out the yard and got a bike, went on the scene and seeing Augustin on the street. I don't know it was unbearable."
It's especially unbearable for Augustin's mother who today traveled to Belize City to settle her son's final affairs.
Agloria Teul, Augustin Coc's Mother
"I'm feeling so down because I didn't expect this to happen to my son, because he work from work to home and home to work and I always talk to him, son don't go bother no one. It's very hard for me. Augustin grew up in Camalote, Camalote village. He found his girlfriend from St. George's Caye and they met each other when he was sixteen years old they started to live life and that's why he ended up here in Belize City. I raised him as a single mother for 15 years and I didn't expect this for my son."
It's a crime that's also puzzled the police but they're going with the wrong place wrong time scenario.
Alejandro Cowo, Head CIB Belize City
"What we know is that Mr. Coc had just concluded his day and was dropped off at the corner of Partridge and Cemetery Road when he was walking on Partridge Street and he was approached by someone who fired the fatal shots at him."
"The motive so far we have not established it but I can tell you that Mr. Coc has not had any encounter with the authorities and he does not appear in our records none at all. We know that he is a hard working person and probably that he had nothing to do with issues happening in that area at this moment."
But while that's the official position Augustine's family feels that, it may be an oversimplification. They say that Augustin had been targeted before, beaten up and robbed, he'd just never reported it.
Voice of: Augustin's Brother-in-Law
"To see these guys you know shot that young man and went over him and give him whatsoever mein that was too cold. Augustin is from work to home. He is the breadwinner for that family and its really devastating what they did to Augustin and the manner in which they did it to Augustin."
Augustin would have turned 29 next week.
He and his wife were raising four children 2 she had from a previous relationship and a 7 and 8 year old that they'd had together.
