Gun violence has taken the life of another teenager, and has left another minor in the hospital. Around 8:30 last night, shots rang out in Unitedville, Cayo and when the smoke cleared, the two boys were lying on the ground with gunshot wounds. 18-year-old Lloyd Myvette passed away while 9-year-old Jamir Mckoy was rushed to the hospital.
Today, Myvette's mother mourned the loss of her youngest child and made a plea to put down the guns and stop the senseless killing. Courtney Menzies has this story.
A teen on the cusp of an internship had his life taken away from him last night in Unitedville. And while he is in the morgue, his 9-year-old friend is in hospital recovering from a gunshot wound to his abdomen.
18-year-old Lloyd Myvett and the minor, Jamir Mckoy, were near a vehicle with Mckoy's father and other villagers when they heard the shots being fired. Myvett was reportedly shot in the head and died on the spot. His mother could barely find the words when she recalled seeing her youngest child's body on the ground only a stone's throw from his house.
Roberta "Ms Nancy" Myvett, Mother of Deceased
"All I know I heard some gunshots and I was in my house and two little girls come running and they call out for me and they told me that my son get shot and I went there where he got shot by one of the neighbor that he was and I was boxing him up and shaking him but I think he was…. Lost for words. Because it's really painful and people will tell you I know how you feel but if you don't go through it, you only could say you know how it feels but only the person who in the shoe know really how it feels and the pain that it brings. But I wanna give God thanks, I know my God and he is my comfort and he is the only one giving me the strength right now because it is not an easy thing to lose your baby son, he is my baby and it was only me and him that live here."
Myvett couldn't have expected this violent death for her teenage son since she said she raised him to be respectful and hardworking, and he was never in trouble with the law.
Roberta "Ms Nancy" Myvett, Mother of Deceased
"Everybody know I grow up my children to be respectful, to be hardworking, and I always told them whatever you want, even if it's $20 a day, you work for eat, because at least you could put a plate of food on the table and that's the way I grow them up. He was a friendly person, he likes to do jokes and tease people that he knows and so forth, he used to be like the little clown in the family. Always making people happy when he's around."
And this broken hearted mother of 9 made a plea to those responsible for the murders plaguing the country to think of the pain they cause and to put down the guns.
Roberta "Ms Nancy" Myvett, Mother of Deceased
"But what happened, happened and I can't bring him back and I know what mothers go through when the lose their loved one it is not an easy thing but I pray for the young man that he will repent and know the wrong that he has done and I would like to say to all the young man out there, put down the gun and stop the senseless killing because we're all human being and we all love out loved ones. Especially if that person does you no wrong, please I'm pleading with all the young men over Belize, please stop the senseless killing feel the pain that a mother goes through because it's a mother that brought you here too and when you take away a mother's son, it's very hard. And please stop the cowardness. You even shot a 9 year old, he's a coward."
And 9-year-old Jamir was good friends with Myvett's son. She explained that they had plans to go to the orange orchards today so that Lloyd could earn a few dollars before starting a new internship.
Roberta "Ms Nancy" Myvett, Mother of Deceased
"He just took in his form yesterday in an internship program he was going to enroll in as a mechanic but he does his little catch and kill job and [yesterday] he said I am taking in the form and will go [tomorrow] in the orange orchard to pick orange so he was going today, he and the same little guy."
"That little guy, just the evening, the same evening earlier like about 4 o clock, the same little boy came and call for him and it was him and the little boy leave from here and he went with the little boy to his house, he and the same little boy leave from here."
Courtney Menzies:
"So what do you know about the little boy? Is he somebody who is close to your son?"
Roberta "Ms Nancy" Myvett, Mother of Deceased
"Yes ma'am, they were friends. He always come hail my son here and they play together and so forth because as I told you, he is a playful person, he's just 18 so you know he has that playfulness in him."
Jamir's grandmother told us today that on the way to the hospital, the minor was telling his father he didn't want to die. And fortunately, he came out of surgery this morning and is awake and talking.
Police have reportedly detained one suspect.
