From the stabbing murder of Ima Landero in San Ignacio, we report now on the gun killing of 24-year-old Iwin Palma in Ladyville.
While Cayo cops were processing the crime scene at the nightclub, Ladyville Police had to respond in the same early-morning hours of Saturday to the "Milpa" area of the village - a place of chronic violence. That's where they found Palma's lifeless body on the side of a road in the neighborhood. He was shot and killed a very short distance from his family's home, and today, our news team went looking for answers in Ladyville. Daniel Ortiz has that story:
24-year-old Iwin "Brown" Palma, a resident of the "Milpa" area of Ladyville was shot and killed in the very same neighborhood where he grew up. He died at a location that was only a few blocks away from his family's house.
Voice of Ricardo Palma - Father of the Deceased
"I really tried to talk to my son every day like parents do, and I tried to advise him to get out of problems. Sometimes, you ignore problems, but sometimes, problems come to you know, in different forms, and some people see in a different way. We don't give life and we shouldn't take life. I believe it's getting out of order. I didn't figure that one day this will fall right at my door, and it's a very painful situation. So I tried to live with it. But up there we are like neighbors in this community, and we are supposed to look out for each other? Because I think about it, this young man grew up right here in the same vicinity where he died. We know everybody in this area, but some people have the attitude and things like that. I don't read into it, because it doesn't move any part of me. I'm not mad at anyone. You know, they take away my son's life; I feel it. I can bring him back, and all that I need is a little bit of justice because we take away human life for a little minor thing, nothing, man, you could think better about it. Of course, since Palma's killing happened around the midnight hour on Saturday, the residents near the crime scene chose to prioritize their family's safety, rather than going out to investigate immediately after the sound of gunshots subsided outside their doors."
Voice of: Area Resident
"It was midnight, after midnight around 7 minutes after 12. I was up. My son was on his phone. My daughter was in there with the baby. There were three loud bangs. And I was like, What is that? She answered and said, Mom, those are gunshots. I said, Nobody going inside. Please don't go outside. And that is what happened. We didn't go outside until I had wanted Vicks earlier. So, my daughter said, mom, I'm going across to the shop. There was no other sound. So, she opened the door, and then she came back inside, trembling, and was like, Mom, a body is out there. I said stop talking nonsense. She said a body is out there. And yes, lo and behold, the body was right there in front of the Roberts, the house facing us. The body was on the ground. My daughter said, Mom, we need to go and see. I said listen, let's call 911 first. But they were out there, you know, and then they went out there. I call 911 and the lady was so nice. She said that she was sending somebody shortly."
Palma's father tells us that he has no idea why his son was so callously gunned down. He said that he tried to advise Iwin to avoid problems, and walk from all forms of conflict for a simpler, more stress-free lifestyle.
Voice of Ricardo Palma - Father of the Deceased
"Before he got into this situation, I was trying to coach him to find a little job, and try and move on with his life. You know the condition that you grew up in. So, you should try to live a little bit better life than that. But he goes out there, we don't know what the demons do, man. We all, as parents, usually try our best to talk to them. So I don't know what his motive was when he left my house. In front of me, all children will act like saints. But when they leave and your back is turned, I don't know what to say. So to my belief, most of the time, I think he was a sweet person. He's friends with everybody. He plays basketball, you know he tries to be somebody. But I don't have much to explain to the country of Belize about this situation with my son, you know, it's very sad. He has been my right hand so far. He helped me out a lot right here. You know. So I look out for the best of my son, but the devil just wanted him more than me."
