Gang violence continues to cause mayhem in Belize City as another man was gunned down on Saturday night, just after 8:00. But those closest to 26-year-old Clifford Lorenzo say that he wasn't in any gang nor did he cause anyone trouble since serving a stint in jail 8 years ago.
But regardless of all whether he was the gunman's target that night, he was the one fatally shot inside his own yard. Courtney Menzies has the story.
26-year-old Clifford Lorenzo went to prison when he was only 18 for firearm offenses.
Since then, his family and friends swore that he has changed his life for the better. Lorenzo did odd jobs for people and had a baby on the way, but his life was cut short by a bullet that might not have been meant for him.
His brother told us off camera that Lorenzo was an introverted man who worked hard and did not bother anyone.
Voice of: Glenford Bain Jr, Brother of Deceased
"I was buying food when I got home, a young man come and tell me that my brother got shot so I didn't know what to do, I just ran home, drop the food and everywhere."
"My brother he was a barber, he cut hair in the neighborhood, and my uncle that he go and do construction work [with]. My brother isn't a trouble man, he don't mess with people, he go from home to work and back home, that's it."
Courtney Menzies:
"So you don't think that he was the target?"
Voice of: Glenford Bain Jr, Brother of Deceased
"No, it was somebody else."
Lorenzo's neighbor heard what happened that fatal night, as he sat in his own vehicle right outside Lorenzo's gate. The gunshots were so close by that he felt as though he was the one being targeted.
Voice of: Neighbor
"To be honest the young boy come out of my yard, the young boy walk across in his yard, I went into my vehicle, my family come behind me and we were going. While sitting in my vehicle I hear the gunshots. To be honest, I done sit down in the vehicle, I felt it was my vehicle being shot up but if anybody in my vehicle would have been the target it would have been me so I made sure my people were alright in my vehicle make they come out."
"By the time the bullet subside, I know my neighbor went into this yard where the shots come from, when I gone in there I see the man lay out on the ground. I run in my yard back and call police and police come and check the spot and tell me the man dead."
And even this neighbor, who has known Lorenzo since the victim was a child, doesn't know why he was targeted.
Voice of: Neighbor
"I won't say everybody perfect, but the youth got his past but he changed his life because he went to jail and come out back and from the time he came to live round here, I know him as a positive youth. Fix bike, trim hair, me personally can't say anything bad about the youth to say he was disrespectful or like that, he's a youth that keeps to himself."
While none of these two men saw exactly how Lorenzo was killed, the police were able to piece together some of this puzzle and gave us preliminary details.
Senior Supt. Hilberto Romero, Deputy Head NCIB
"Upon the arrival information was received that one Clifford Lorenzo 26 years had received gunshot injuries and was lying motionless inside the yard. Information revealed Lorenzo was inside the yard when a male person entered and fired several shots at him causing the fatal injuries. Three persons are detained for this investigation."
"We are following on several leads, it is ongoing rivalry between groups in Belize City."
Lorenzo's unborn child would have been his first.
