Last night we showed you the Justice for Laddie Foundation's memorial celebration.
It was a celebration of 14-year-old Laddie Gillett's life in a run and the opening of a memorial park, a moment of reflection on loss and a promise to fight for change so that Belize can do it's best to hopefully never lose another Laddie.
And present at the ceremony was Thomas Palacio, the boy who was with Laddie Gillett when he was cornered on that dark beach by police officers who seemed to be all dressed in black. And as he reflected on the incident one year later, Palacio told 7news that there were more than two officers on the beach the night Laddie died. Here's more:
Thomas Palacio, Friend Of Laddie Gillett
"What happened that night is a perfect example of abuse of power, you know he had no reason to do what he did. We weren't a threat none at all you know and I'd like to also say that I'm not sure if the Belizean police get intense training but I think they need intense training for someone to become a police officer because you have a lot of power in your hands."
"It's easy to like a position of power because being a police officer is being in a position of power you are authorized to have a gun on you, and you are authorised to do things that the average person can't so that puts you in a position of power and some people can't take that power. Some people abuse that power."
"People don't understand that it wasn't just two police out there that night. There were at least five or six police officers and it wasn't Laddie, myself, and our friends it was just me and Laddie."
"If they had simply stopped us and said hey we're police we wouldn't have bolted in the other direction. They came out at us in a way that we could not tell who they were. I couldn't tell who they were and Laddie couldn't tell who they were."
"We thought we were being robbed and got spooked you know you see men in black it's night, it's a dark alley and it was more than just two guys, and we're two kids. He was a kid I was 19 back then but to me it was bigger guys and my friend, I'm responsible for my friend and when we saw that we just instantly bolted away if they had stopped us and said we're the police that could have been avoided."
If you'd like to find out more about the foundation for Laddie and its goals for police reform you can visit its website at justiceforladdie.com
Kids Get Certificates After Completing Camp
And finally tonight, school's out and a lot of students have been participating in summer camps for the first time in two years. One such camp, which sought to raise the level of the children's literacy level, ended yesterday - with a trip to the museum for the kids.
The program they were a part of was the Roger's Stadium Physical Culture Sporting Club and the education coordinators for Belize and the Diaspora told us more.
