Another minor is dead, and again, he was shot by a bullet from the barrel of a police officer's gun. But according to authorities, this killing is not at all the same circumstances as that of 14-year-old Laddie Gillett. Instead, they say this minor, 16-year-old Shamar Nicholas, had just committed a murder.
And like in the case of Gary Young and Matthew Moore, two men who met their demise on Kraal Road two Sundays ago, this past Sunday, Nicholas and 24-year-old Matthew Gutierrez found themselves in similar circumstances - one murdered by the other and the shooter subsequently killed by a third person - on the same street.
But Nicholas' family is refuting this narrative, saying that the teenager was not involved in the murder but rather, the police, who had reportedly targeted him before, killed and framed him. Courtney Menzies spoke with them today and has this story.
It's like Deja vu on Kraal Road where, just like last week, a man was murdered and his alleged shooter was killed only minutes apart. At least, that's what the police report says, but the family of 16-year-old Shamar Nicholas isn't believing that.
Initial reports are that 24-year-old Matthew Gutierrez was walking on Kraal Road Sunday morning when a gunman fired shots at him. That gunman, who police identified as Nicholas, then rode off on his bicycle towards Rivero Street, where police officers were stationed. He allegedly began shooting at the cops, and the officers returned fire. After a short pursuit, he was hit and fell the ground on Waight Street.
Both men arrived at the hospital but succumbed shortly after 9am.
Nicholas' mother told us when she received the news that her teenaged son was shot by police.
Voice of: Zelma Baizar Nicholas, Mother
"Sunday morning, I was asleep and when I wake up, they say ma, ma, my son gone hail me to come. He said, ma something happened to Shamar. I said, where? He said when he gone out, he hear pow pow but he thought it was pop shot. By the time he run out and see, he hail his pa, you better come because it's not pop shot, somebody say it's gunshots. When my husband gone, my husband said all he saw on the ground was the bicycle and the cap. They said they already took the body to the hospital so he ride to the hospital but they didn't want to let him in. But apparently they said he went to buy and when I get up, so he wasn't in the house, but when I went out there, they already took the body so we went to the hospital, and we saw him on the bed, they already had him in a bag."
And that's the last image his family has of him - lying in the morgue in a body bag with his wrists tied together, despite already being dead. But his mother and sister believe that he wasn't involved in the shooting, rather the police had been long targeting him.
Zelma Baizar Nicholas, Mother
"Police always have to cover up themselves and thing and I know for a fact that my son is not an angel but they have no proof to say that little boy did what they claim to say he did. We get information that nothing like that happened and it's the other way around. If the police are trying to cover up anything or… let God handle that."
Courtney Menzies:
"Have you ever known your son to be involved in any type of firearm offenses or to even own a firearm?"
Zelma Baizar Nicholas, Mother
"No ma'am, not to my knowledge, not that I know of."
And the reason Nicholas doesn't believe the police's story is because persons in the area with surveillance footage have told her otherwise. Still, she said she could not vouch for her son's innocence, but said that the police shouldn't have been shooting to kill.
Zelma Baizar Nicholas, Mother
"Yes sometimes the boys are doing fool but they have to remember they're not animal. And if you're doing your job and you meet up to the bad guys, give them a warning shot or something, or shot them in their foot, when they drop you handcuff them, deal with them and charge them with whatever they went to do, if it's murder or whatever, deal with them, send them to jail but don't kill them like a dog."
"My son was a loving son, joyful person and everything, very mannerly, and he help around the house, doing chores and thing and he's hardworking also because he was at ITVET trying to do a trade with mechanic, love mechanic, and he was behind here doing construction job and everything and so he is a working person and a very happy person and very helpful person so I will surely miss him."
But the police are sticking to their account, and today the communications officer said that an officer was injured during the shootout.
ASP Fitzroy Yearwood - Director of Communications, ComPol's Office
"In the incident, one of the officers received what we would call a graze believed to be during this fire exchange. I know that the officers recovered a firearm from the scene that we believe was used by Nicholas in this whole 3-way shooting, or what we would want to refer to as murder and loss of life."
"Yes, Shamar Nicholas has had run-ins with the police. It is not a secret, but a brazen act, so early on a Sunday morning, and I am certain that if you drive through Belize City on any given day, you would see that we have put back our permanent checkpoint in that area. You would have to be either brave or completely ignore the policing effort that we have in that area."
"It's unfortunate that I know we'll hear the age and outcries when it comes to a minor. But, this was a minor with a firearm who had no regard for that person's life, because 1, he took that other life. So, his mission was accomplished."
And ASP Yearwood said if the family has concerns, then they need to file a report.
ASP Fitzroy Yearwood
"No parent would want to involve that their child was involved in any kind of shooting of the sort, more so to hear that this child was killed whilst being the orchestrator of a crime. So, it is their right to get a private investigator if they want to."
"If they believe that he was dealt with using justifiable force, then we invite them to come and make a report."
