Switching now to crime, tonight, a family is missing their young son and brother. 22-year-old Jerome McLaren was fatally shot last night on Cleghorn Street, just after 8:00, on a makeshift basketball court full of kids. Now, his loved ones and the police are puzzled as to why he was targeted. Courtney Menzies spoke with his mom, who was only yards away when her son was killed. Here is that story.
A mother is slowly coming to terms with the loss of her son after she watched his killer ride off on his motorcycle. 22-year-old Jerome McLaren was shot several times while he was playing basketball with the neighborhood kids.
His mother, Sharone Cocom, sat on a bench outside her home with her own mother when the sound of gunshots interrupted an otherwise peaceful night.
Sharone Cocom, Mother of Deceased
"I start to hear gunshot so I just throw myself backwards and lift up my feet so that no shots catch me. I didn't know the person that they shot was my son. So I get up to see who it is and I see the young man put the silver gun about this big in his pants. I didn't see the young man face because he had on a mask like from here to his whole neck so I didn't see his face, I don't know how he looks, I just see his body structure and so I jump up because my son was playing basketball on that rim. And when I saw him put the gun in his pants and so I yelled, "you shot my son, you kill my son" but his back was turned to me. And I yelled that three times and he was trying to start the cycle but it couldn't start and so I am yelling at him, "you shot my son." And I run to my son, and my son laid on top of a yellow and white scooter that's parked right in that yard."
And as Cocom sat in the same spot this morning, she questioned why someone would take her son's life.
Courtney Menzies:
"Did he at any point confide in you that something was wrong, that someone was after him?"
Sharone Cocom, Mother of Deceased
"No ma'am I could remember one time he asked my daughter in law to take off [his] Facebook because someone told him they were going to shoot and kill him. And instant they delete it but Jerome was somebody who doesn't give trouble, you know all young man, if anybody come at them to do anything they will defend themselves and that is the kind of person Jerome."
Even the police are baffled at why McLaren was targeted.
Alejandro Cowo, SUPT. Alejandro Cowo, Head CIB, Belize City
"What we have gathered is that McClaren was on the motorcycle when someone came from the direction of Cleghorn street and stopped right in front of the yard where he was sitting on top of the motorcycle and fired several shots at him causing his fatal injuries."
Cherisse Halsall:
"Is McClaren known to the police?"
Alejandro Cowo
"Yes, we have a few incidents with McClaren but not to the extent that we suspect that he has been involved in other criminal activities."
Cherisse Halsall:
"Any possible motive in his murder?"
Alejandro Cowo
"Well, that is something that we were trying to establish from last night. We spoke to different persons that were there and also family members to inquire from them if at any time Mr. McClaren had been threatened or anything that he had gone through with anybody for maybe the past few weeks or the past year but up to now we cannot give you a definite motive as to why he was shot."
Cocom believes her son was in the wrong place at the wrong time. But despite what the motive was, Cocom has lost, not only her son, but her helper and supporter.
Sharone Cocom, Mother of Deceased
"Jerome, you know everybody got their ways, you would tell him, "Jerome come here" and he would make up his face but Jerome was one of my sons that took care of me. I want that person know that killed my son that Jerome used to go to work, come home, as he get his pay it's, "here mommy," if I'm not here Jerome put that money under my tv or give it to my oldest daughter, "give mommy this when she comes." Jerome will wash for me, I tell him not to wash my underwear, he wash from that for me. Jerome get up, cook, sweep out, go buy, he like run joke but he can't take jokes. That was Jerome. A happy person. Actually he was a boxer, Jerome went to represent Belize in boxing."
Courtney Menzies:
"When?"
Sharone Cocom, Mother of Deceased
"Costa Rica… he went like about two years ago."
She also had a message for her son's killer.
Sharone Cocom, Mother of Deceased
"You take my Jerome from me, you take my son from me, and because you take my son from me, I am claiming you as my son in the name of Jesus Christ and so I will pray for you just like I used to pray for Jerome, I pray for Jerome in the morning in the afternoon in the evening. And I will pray that you give your life to Jesus Christ and if the police find you, me personally will come look for you and you will turn me down but I won't stop until you talk to me because I have nothing against you and I forgive you."
McLaren had no children. He had previously worked at Brodie's warehouse and was looking for a job before he was killed.
