The first three-day weekend of 2022 - and the first weekend without a curfew - saw several violent incidents - and too many lives lost. We begin with a gruesome murder in Belize City, that occurred on Saturday, around 3:30. 23-year-old Emroy Tracey was over at his neighbor's house - visiting the residents that were more like family to him.
He'd only been there for a few minutes before he got into an argument that led to his assailant stabbing him multiple times. Tracey - who suffered from sickle cell anemia - didn't have much of a chance, and died on the spot.
It's a murder that has shaken the lives of those who knew Tracey well - a man that, by all accounts, was always kind and loving, taking pride in his appearance and how he presented himself. A man that his mother would never have guessed would meet this kind of demise. Today, Courtney Menzies spoke with her and has this story.
23-year-old Emroy Tracey was known to his family as someone who'd give the shirt off his back to his friends - so it was a complete shock when they discovered that those same friends were detained for allegedly stabbing him to death.
ASP Fitzroy Yearwood, Communications Officer
"Initial investigations reveals that Tracey was at the corner of Curassow and Iguana Streets when he got into an altercation with two other men and one of them took out a knife and inflicted his fatal injuries to him. We know that police have two persons detained and hopefully we would be able to have charges very soon."
And according to Tracey's mother, she'd once considered those suspects her own sons - brothers to Tracey - and men who'd eaten from her table. She had spoken to them just hours before she got the worst news of her life and she'd seen her son only minutes before he was reportedly beaten and stabbed multiple times.
Voice of: Elberil Tracey, Mother of Deceased
"He left to go next door, just a house in between, just to go see a friend and in split seconds, minutes, there was a knock on the door, "mom, your son is getting killed out here!" And we kinda rushed out and from the state he was in, I know that I had to prepare for the worst right there."
"The hurtful thing is, it was done by his friends, brothers you could say. People that we always so good to, he so good to. Like, people that, I don't… people he would have given his soul for because it doesn't matter how you tell him, don't go over there, don't be with them, "no, those are my friends."
"And they paint a picture that he is their real brother, he's their best friend, even to me, because I treat them how I treat him, like a son. Most of the time, "mom, mom, mom, mom." Friday night, they were right here, drink beer, eat. Saturday morning, I was going to market, they were like, mom, bring me back so and so, hope the legs that are paining you aren't paining you, nuff love, mommy, nuff this and that. And hours later, you kill my baby in this gruesome manner? For what? Why?"
"How could you? I keep on asking, why? And that's what I want to ask them, why? Why? Because they didn't only kill Emroy they killed me."
And now, this distraught mother said she'll have to find a way to pick up the pieces - and bury a third child - one that was just getting started in life with his first job at a call center. And though he was only there for a few months, he made friends easily and his co-workers erected this makeshift memorial for him.
Carmita Gabourel, General Manager, Emerald BPO
"We first hired him for over at the Freetown section, that was in October and from since then up till Friday he was a calm soul, he was always quiet, always on time for work, I never had to reprimand them for getting on Facebook, not being on time, nothing, he was always cool. He will surely be missed here."
"He brought a friendly energy, he was always smiling, he was always neat, he was always ready to make somebody happy, ready to make a friend, he was always friendly, always."
"My reaction when I got the news, it was late Saturday night, it was a total shock, you know, I sat up, I was wondering, what could he have done, because he's never violent, never, so it shocked me, it definitely shocked me."
And the call center plans to hold a prayer session tomorrow at their three locations. As for Tracey's family, they're just hoping for justice as they grapple with unimaginable grief.
Since those interviews this morning, the police have arrested two men for Tracey's murder. Both 26-year-old Gilroy Thomas and 24-year-old Tyrique Swaso were charged jointly today.
