That outrageous assault on a teenage student is just one of the serious crimes reported against teenagers this week. The other victim was 18-year-old ITVET student Carl Lamb who was killed on Monday night while walking home - stabbed to death, possibly by other teenagers.
Crime targeting youths - It's a worrying trend - and one we have seen before. Today, at an event about cyber security - we asked the Minister of Home Affairs to discuss what police can do to at least keep students safe:
Hon. Kareem Musa, Min. of Home Affairs & New Growth Industries
"Yeah. It's very scary the world that we live in today, Daniel. And it is certainly not just limited to Belize. You look across the region. Jamaica is very is facing extreme violent crimes happening in their society. Salvador, other parts of Central America. And so, there is this sort of uptick worldwide of crime, even in the great United States. And so, it is very concerning, especially when it comes to young people. The young man lost his life the other day - and I want to extend my condolences to him as well as the other individuals who lost their lives over the past ten days. I know that for the months of August and September, we had a very relatively low crime, the violent crime situation in Belize. And we're thankful for that. We're thankful to the police department for the hard work that they put in over the September celebrations. And, of course, citizens, on the whole, I know that there were celebrations almost everywhere in every village, in every district. And for us to have had a relatively good, and safe if celebrations, that's a that's a positive thing. However, we are, of course, concerned with these latest murders. These are, for the most part, out-district, I think the last five in the last ten days. And those are a little easier to solve. I think out of the five murders, we do have four suspects that we're looking at. One has already been charged in the instance of Mr. Timmons in Orange Walk, and we do have other suspects detained. So, from a policy standpoint, that is what is important for us to be able to solve these crimes. It's not the police that are committing these crimes. People are committing these crimes. And like I said, we are living in a more violent and more cruel time. And people generally have lost that sensitivity for one another and for the families of these victims who are now grieving, no doubt. And so, from the police standpoint, we are doing our best to solve all of these murders. And like I said, four out of the five, we do have suspects that we are looking for."
