And once curfew hours set in at 10 last night, Belizeans let out a sigh of relief thinking that was the end of the night's violence. And it was, but only for Belize City, since the gun violence started before dawn in Punta Gorda Town.
Sanitation worker 36-year-old Dennis Trapp met his death while getting ready for work as a sanitation truck driver around 4:00 this morning – when most residents should have been at home. But two gunmen broke the curfew to kill him. Courtney Menzies spoke with Trapp's mom, who heard the dozens of shots aimed at her son. Here is the story.
The last thing Punta Gorda residents expected to hear at 4am in the morning were the sound of gunshots – but that's exactly what happened, a barrage of shots erupted as 36-year-old Dennis Trapp got ready for work.
Trapp was a sanitation worker who had a target on his back, according to his mother.
Voice of: Emolin Gomez - Mother of Deceased "One time they burn down his house and he lived by my place and he moved out because he buy a lot by the lagoon area. The moved his house there and they burn it down and it's the same person that took his life burn down the house. So now he got a bigger house and he was just trying to do his house."
Trapp had also been shot at before, a few weeks ago as he sat in the Town Council's brand-new garbage truck. And while his family may know who has been targeting him, they will leave it up to God and karma to take care of the gunman.
Gomez also said that while her son was not a saint, he was not deserving of the death he got.
Voice of: Emolin Gomez "My son was never a saint when he was going to school because they knock one of his sister or brother, all of them going to find you and beat you up but he is not a person that will kill nobody. He change his life, he has been to prison, he change his life and he is trying because he has a daughter that is going to UB, his older little girl that I raise and he is trying to change his life, he was trying to build his house, he know that people don't like him but for what reason. They got 2 person and we understand they want him dead, so well now they get him dead."
Gomez said she broke down this morning when she heard the news, but by this evening, a calm had settled as she accepted her son's demise. She also recalled the last time she saw him last night.
Voice of: Emolin Gomez "Right now I no feel it much because god knows best and I give all of my care to god and he will protect me through this, so I don't feel no way, they took his life, I cannot do anything. He reach here 9:40 last night, he asked if my kitchen open because I sell food, I told him yes, I only have fried fish and tortilla and beans. He wait make I fry the fish and he leave and gone home."
Trapp had three daughters.
