Tonight, Joshua Smith, a 26-year-old resident of Belize City, continues to receive medical treatment at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. That's after the police shot him repeatedly with rubber bullets in an attempt to subdue him.
Reports reaching 7News are that his family called the police on Saturday night. His mother told us that she saw him bleeding from both hands, and he was armed with two different weapons. She believed that he was being attacked by an assailant and so, she called the police.
But, when police arrived, they became concerned when he refused to comply with their requests that he should drop the weapons. Moreover, the officers began to suspect that he was having some sort of mental or violent episode. So, they attempted to subdue and disarm him with the use of rubber bullets.
The problem is that the officers fired a large number of those non-lethal rounds, which have inflicted varying degrees of injuries. His family is concerned about his eyesight, and if the number of bullets fired at his chest and abdomen did internal damage.
This morning, we spoke with his mother at the KHMH:
Lara Smith - Mother of Shooting Victim
"I noticed that my son had a knife in his hand, and he was bleeding from both hands. So, I got concerned, and I went into my daughter's room. She was scared; she said that she's never seen Joshua like this, and something is off. So, I called the police, and the first truck of police came. They told him to put down the knife and the hammer. He had a hammer in one hand, and a knife in another. He didn't put down the knife or the hammer. So the police called for backup. three more trucks came. By this time it was four trucks. The other team came that was in camouflage uniform. I think it's the MIT. And you have Inspector Eck, who I think was the one on duty in khaki. He said to please only shoot him with rubber bullets, and please aim below the knee. Everything got crazy after that. They start aiming for his face at close range and they keep shooting. I think he received over 200 different shots, and there were some more police that said he's not normal. A normal human wouldn't be able to sustain so many injuries. So, they wanted to use that barricade on this, because it would probably kill him. He would not put down the knife and hammer. He was not in his right mind, so they use a big piece of wood, like a wooden door that I had outside. They put it in front of them, apprehended him, and put the handcuff on. At this time, the M.I.T was still shooting him in the face. I told him about that. I thought they had tasers there, but they couldn't taser him. They just kept shooting. I didn't know that my son was hurt that bad, until when I came to the hospital the Sunday. The nurses kept calling and saying that I need to come to the hospital because he was hurt really bad. It's inhumane. His enter face is in one. He can't see at this time, and they can't tell me if he would be able to see again, until after 14 days when the swelling goes down. But his whole face is bleeding, his whole stomach area. He's still bleeding and vomiting, and I think something is wrong. So, I told the nurses that they need to do an ultrasound and a cat scan because there are still bullets in his head, and in his lips because I can't see them."
Attorney Norman Rodriguez is a friend of the family, and he told us that he has decided to help them bring attention to what they think is excessive and reckless use of force by the responding officers:
Norman Rodriguez - Attorney for the Smith Family
"When I came to the hospital, and I saw this young man, I counted at least 20 bullet marks on his face, and between his neck and his upper abdomen. Something has to be wrong, right? First of all, you shooting when you're not supposed to be is not advancing towards you, and I am instructed. He's not threatening his family by advancing to them, as I am instructed. And you shoot that many bullets into this young man without caring whether he's injured in his eyes, or any other part of his body. By the way, there is still one of those pellets or whatever it is in his lips, his lower lip. So, I have an I take issue with that, that you will fire so many bullets into the young man and you failed to shoot him in a way to disable him. Obviously, you want to kill him or something to that effect. So that is the first thing that triggered me, and I decided to assist the family, right? I'm sure that's not following police procedure."
We specifically asked his mother if Joshua Smith has any history of mental illness, and she told us that Saturday night was the very first time that her son has ever behaved in the manner in which police found him. She is hoping that the medical officers will be able to conduct tests to figure out if he was having a mental episode, or if he was under the influence of any sort of drug. She added that she has pointedly questioned him about being under the influence of any substance, which he has flatly denied.
