And from political defiance to a gun violence problem that defies all best law enforcement efforts to suppress it.
As we have been reporting, there has been a spike in violence in the Martin's area - culminating in the murder of a former gang boss. That has put police on high alert and forced the commissioner to bring additional patrol units from out district areas into the city to blanket Martin's and suppress any further retaliation.
This morning, the Commissioner said it all started with the gang related shooting of three men at a home:
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"But since the trio were shot in the Martin's area, we saw the shooting death of Darren Banks and again in the Martin's area I would believe that was a retaliation to what took place behind complex. Then we had the other shooting on Vernon street, again we believe was a retaliation. Belize City is so complex to the extent that you see a gang flare up in a particular area and then we go in to address that particular area emphasizing our efforts in that area and then we see another flare up in another area. It's just how Belize City is. You all know that particularly south side Belize city have that potential for gang flare up at any given time, it's so volatile. It takes one stupid person to do something stupid and then we have a gang flare up. That's exactly what we're seeing that took place in the Martins area over the weekend. We have put in place certain mechanisms, I have given certain instructions for certain things to be done and, yes, the LIU is on the ground along with the conflict officers to see what we can do to bring some resolution to the area. It is not going to be easy I must say because we do know how these gang situations goes, that there is always that tendency for them to want to retaliate. We must do what we can to avert such retaliation. Let me say that at this time we are not contemplating any state of emergency. We will see how we can resolve the issue through mediations and interventions."
