And though this patricide is technically a death investigation, that's still 5 persons violently killed just 11 days into the new year. The year began with a double murder, followed by the murder of a 15-year-old, then the fatal shooting of a man in Belize City, and now the chopping of an allegedly abusive father.
It's not a promising start to 2022, especially with the stated goal of reducing this year's murder count. Today we asked the ComPol about the trend this may set for the rest of the year.
Reporter
"5 murders in 11 days. Is that setting a bad pace for the start of the year?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"If you look at the type of murders we have had, it's not like those I am seeing in the past. We had the double murder in Maskall Road which again is an isolated area. It's not an area that the police is patrolling frequently and then we have the murder this morning where a father and a son, where the son who claimed that he has been abused for years by his father and I guess he had enough and took his father's life this morning and then we had the one in Dangriga and then the one in Belize City. The one in Belize is more a retaliatory shooting and it goes back to the whole issue of having these gang members who believe that a person or certain person may have done something to them and when the police investigate, they stay mute to the police and as soon as they have the chance to take matters into their own hands, they just avenged whatever was done to them. So, it's more like a revenge type shooting in respect to the one with Mr. Lopez."
