There was a murder last night in the Lake Independence area of Belize City. 26-year-old Tyrone King was killed by a brazen gunman who barged all the way into his home and opened fire - leaving him slumped over a couch in the living room area.
King is the latest in a growing list of males that his grieving family members have lost to gun violence. Our news team has the story, and the back story of a widening imprint of grief on a single Belize City family:
This video of 26-year-old Tyrone King enjoying the company of his mother and siblings is one of the most recent memories that his loved ones have to cherish about his fun-loving personality.
Shakera Young-Forrester - Sister of the Deceased
"He was very jovial. I will definitely say that whenever he would be around that he would always be the life of wherever he is. His mom was his favorite person to annoy."
Unfortunately, his loved ones will never again experience that irresistible playfulness from Tyrone. He died last night after a gunman barged onto his common-law wife's property on Giles Street and gunned him down in what should have been the safety of their home.
Shakera Young-Forrester - Sister of the Deceased
"We basically don't know anything. The police have not contacted us in reference to any leads or anything as yet. We just know that after 9 last night, he was shot dead in his house."
Daniel Ortiz
"Did he ever come to you or any other members of the family, including your mom, discussing any sort of threats or enemies, people who would want to do what was done to him last night?"
Shakera Young-Forrester
"Tyrone has run-ins with people, and so, I would say as a family, we would talk. He would share, but it's not as if he came to us and said, X person wanted me dead, or Y has it out for me. We know that, of course, he did not make all the best decisions in life, but we don't know who exactly is responsible. We don't know why they would want to do it. Everything is just up in the air for us right now. I will tell you that there's no way to say that we respond well because no family wants to bury a loved one, and most importantly, we never want to have to endure pain. But, it is something that now, obviously, it's becoming the norm, not just to our family, but I think to every household in Belize, whether you're on Northside or Southside. It's become a norm. Pain is now becoming a norm."
For this family, tragedy has become far too familiar. Their resolve is being tested again after losing their 5th male relative to gun violence. In September 2014, John Avilez and his nephew, Leon Savery, were gunned down. Avilez died hours later, and Savery passed away a month later due to medical complications. Then in November 2016, Leon Savory's son, 7-year-old Tyler, and Savory's nephew, Porshan Pipersburgh, were also killed in another double murder.
Last night, Tyler's uncle, Tyrone King, was mercilessly executed at home.
A few months ago, Tyrone's elder brother, Aaron King, died from natural causes. In 2017, however, he barely survived an attempt on his life when a gunman shot him at a party.
So, just much pain must these surviving loved ones endure?
Shakera Young-Forrester - Sister of the Deceased
"I think that is what is now burdensome to our family because it's not just the emotional aspect. It's not just the financial aspect, but it is the trauma that comes with it. For those who may not know, in 2017 Aaron was shot 8 times, by God's grace, he survived. He became ill and he recently passed. So, now we have Tyrone passing, and then we had in 2016, we had Tyler. And then we had his dad. So, the family has experienced quite an amount of blows, but the good thing about it is that we are a resilient family. We don't allow the circumstances of life to keep us down because understand that this is what is going to happen. We just didn't expect it this early, just a short timespan. It is what is happening now. You watch the news until eventually, you become the news."
Tyrone King's loved ones also don't expect that his assailant will be successfully prosecuted. His sister vividly remembers the acquittal of her son's accused killer in 2019:
Shakera Young-Forrester
"I expect nothing of them because they have done nothing for us, and they keep doing nothing for us. They keep failing us as a people. They keep failing us as a nation. In fact, I could tell you that I wasn't here last night when my brother was shot. I wasn't in the house where he was when he was attacked. But, I was able to see the exact position that my brother was in when he was gunned down. I was able to see exactly how many bullet holes were on his body. I was able to see the entire crime scene, even though I was not there. And why was that, because we have police officers leaking pictures of the murder victims on their personal phones, on whatever group chat they're in. So, if you're asking me what I expect, I expect nothing, the same way they did nothing for Tyler, who died innocently. My message is to each and every person because from 2016 to now, since Tyler died, I've come to realize that we are suffering an epidemic that came before the pandemic. It is us being a nation that lacks love. If you look at things right now, you would see people minding their own business, if somebody is being beaten on the street. If somebody is being shot, they would prefer to take out their phones. If I am dying right now, or if I crashed, they would more focus on taking my pictures and being the first to post the video, or the picture, rather than actually supporting or seeing how they can be of help. So, I will be honest; the message I have for the entire nation of Belize is to wake up and go back to your moral standards. We no longer have those. Nobody is being responsible parents anymore. The children are raising up themselves. The women no longer influence the home the way that they're supposed to. So now, we have a broken nation. We have leaders who are greedy. We have people who are advocating for specific groups, but nobody looks at the regular people who are being affected right now. So, all you are seeing right now are hurt people hurting other people."
King had one child.
