And while that 19 year old was fatally injured last night in Belmopan - earlier in the day, a 20 year old was killed in Belize City. He is Malik Green, a young man with a troubled past - he'd had brushes with the law, and the lawless.
And, finally yesterday, a killer caught up to him while he was riding home from a funeral. Courtney Menzies spoke to his father:
The first murder in Belize City for the New Year happened just after 2 yesterday afternoon. 20-year-old Malique Green was gunned down on Ross Pen Road while riding his bicycle.
And while his friends and family knew that he had many brushes with the law and the lawless -
And that Green had his own outlaw past - as seen in this video of him brandishing a gun and boasting about committing a robbery, his father told us that he was trying to turn over a new leaf.
Mark Green Sr., Father of Deceased
"He said he had a young daughter and he had a girlfriend and he was trying to better his life to suit them. Bur like I said, I'm not saying he was one of the greatest guy because he's a person who stands up for what he believes in, he wouldn't let someone chance him or do him anything like that, that's how he was, unfortunately somebody chance him out of his life."
"He was a person, always jovial, always willing to do things… he got people who he respect and people who he just don't care about but he's coming who's willing to work, he was always looking for work. I think he told me that the only thing that mattered to him was his girlfriend and his baby."
Mark Green told us that this is the second son he has lost to gun violence, but could not muster up the strength to say much more.
We also spoke with a friend of the victim who was one of the last people to see him alive.
Voice of: Friend of Deceased
"I was right here at home when someone came and they said that they killed Malique, I was in shock because he was here earlier yesterday in the morning, he was here."
"I just met him like last year, but throughout the months that I have known him he seemed to be a nice person to be but at the end of the day like everybody has their own problems that they go through and I'm not the type of person that is involved in the streets but he is the type of person that is involved in the streets and I guess it was just his time."
While there is no known motive as yet, police are trying to determine if the incident was gang related, since Green was known to be affiliated.
SUPT. Alejandro Cowo, Head CIB Belize City
"We know that he had just arrived from a funeral and was with some relatives at Cesar Ridge, and from there he rode toward Ross Penn road where he was fatally injured."
"We understand that he is not from that area and he had just recently moved to Cesar Ridge. We are trying to put everything together to determine if it is gang-related or because of any other problem that he had encountered with anybody there since he does not actually reside at that location."
Reporter:
"Do you know if he was affiliated or associated with any of the gangs?"
SUPT. Alejandro Cowo
"He does belong to one of the gangs, yes."
Investigators believe someone from the area may have committed the crime, and there are currently several people detained. And this was not the first time that Green was targeted. He was shot in the shin two years ago on Kelly Street.
Green was also targeted by the police last year, for allegedly breaking curfew violations. But he claimed that he was picked up at 10 in the morning, and at that time the curfew did not begin until 8 in the night.
Malique Green
"I got arrested and charged. I got detained Saturday, 10 o'clock exact, a.m. I am a construction worker. I don't give trouble. I don't mess with anybody. I try to work for [what is] mine. I am working 2 days a week, $40, and police, and police will charge me for curfew. Curfew, my brother. $5,000 I have to pay now to the government. Why will I pay $5,000? For no reason, they are taking advantage of us big time."
And while he stood up that time against police - he didn't even a chance to stand up against the gunman who caught him unawares yesterday.
Green's daughter not even a year old.
