Tonight, a devastated American family has left Belize behind, perhaps, forever.
For them, it will forever be a place that caused them the most unimaginable pain. Their 23-year-old daughter J'Bria was with her family on a Belizean vacation in San Pedro to celebrate her dad's birthday. But all that changed on Friday night at 9:30 when what should have been a celebratory night turned tragic as J'Bria was unwittingly caught in the line of gang gunfire.
Our 7News team was on the first flight out on Saturday morning. Cherisse Halsall followed the case straight through the New Year's weekend and tonight she brings us this story.
STANDUP
J'Bria Bowens and her family were sitting right here last night. They were reveling in a cool Belizean night after a birthday dinner for her dad.
But that's when a gunman saw his target ordering food from this stall.
And this morning eyewitnesses told us that he indiscriminately sprayed gunfire endangering, cooks, patrons, and their families and ultimately killing the 23-year-old tourist.
Voice of Eyewitness
"Well, what I saw last night when I was working at the park. I saw this guy come with a fisherman hat on, with a ski mask in black, you know. I saw him walk come with the bag to halfway to the Christmas tree and looked towards Jaguar and it looks like he saw his target who he came after when he saw it he walked back towards the bathroom at the park and put the black bag down and hauled out a machine AK gun and just came back towards the same Christmas tree where he had stood up first and pointed it towards Jaguar's and a lot of people were there and he just opens sprayed and ended up shooting a young lady on a golf cart who was an American, you know, and sprayed the gun just shot it like with no sense and he didn't get his target but he got someone else and ended up running back into the park and went around to an area by chicken drop and ended up shooting again and it looked like he jumped in a boat and just took offhand gone."
But as terror struck the public square parkgoers, San Pedranos and foreigners took refuge in the nearby Catholic Church. Local Pastor Father Eduardo Montemayor says he stood at the door calling them inside. It was only when the dust had cleared that he started walking toward the scene and J'Bria Bowens' terrorized family.
Fr. Eduardo Montemayor, Pastor
"So, at that moment I immediately tried to pray for her. She seemed, and I took her pulse she did have a pulse at that moment so I just entrusted her soul to god I gave her the anointing and I entrusted her soul to God."
"At the same time, her family members were well let's see if we can maybe resuscitate her and so immediately we started shouting and screaming for a truck, some sort of truck to carry her and so at that moment the police officers brought a truck and so we carried her to the back of the truck and you know pleading that they take her as fast as they can to the polyclinic to see if maybe they could resuscitate her and save her life."
Cherisse Halsall:
"So let me ask you, you, when you start walking towards the scene, you know, how much terror is there within you at that moment?"
Fr. Eduardo Montemayor, Pastor
"Yeah, I wasn't afraid but uh, I wasn't afraid but I was very concerned obviously for those that might have been hurt I thought maybe children or somebody else. There was a lot of children, there were a lot of families just hanging out here in the park, playing in the park and when this kind of violence happens it's just a shock to the entire community."
That's right she is an innocent bystander I think a nurse, a medical student or a nursing student from LSU, Louisiana State University and so it is tragic
And, It isn't the first time a guest has been caught in the crossfire of a San Pedro dispute. 3 years ago it was American doctor Gary Swank who died at the hands of a gunman who silenced him after his fly fishing guide was murdered before his eyes.
But what happened this time?
Cherisse Halsall:
"Sir, anything the investigation has revealed about what the dispute is between the shooter and the intended target?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"They have a long-standing beef over drugs and other issues. I guess you have heard about the different fractions in San Pedro and the intense rivalry they had before. Much has been done to allay that issue but again when they find opportunities they try to take it and I believe that one group saw the opportunity last night, took it but they still failed and ended up killing an innocent person."
J'Bria was innocent and unusually kind, that's according to the waiter she asked to sing her dad happy birthday, less than an hour before she was killed.
Mariano Guerrero, Waiter, Elvi's Kitchen
"After they had dinner and everything she came to find me again all the way in the service area and she came to thank me for that happy birthday and said, you know, that it made their night. Right before they left they told us peace and that's what they did and they went on with their night."
"Working in this industry I always learn to appreciate kind people, we deal with a lot of different people and some people are not the nicest and I can say that she was definitely a sweet girl and so that's what kind of struck me, you know."
Guerrero's boss chef Jennie Staines says she saw the family drive off but couldn't have known the horror that awaited them in the park but she had her suspicions.
Jennie Staines, Chef, Elvi's Kitchen
"All the business community, the whole of San Pedro, families, and everybody is so hurt but it was something that I personally feel that was coming because lately, the front of San Pedro has been really, I don't want to say that it's ghetto, but by Jaguar's the whole ambience around it hasn't been a pleasant one like before. Me personally I don't go to the park anymore because the ambience, because before I would go a little and relax at the park and then go home because it's fresh and everything but the ambience lately hasn't been nice. Too much, you know the bad people, San Pedro is a small town and right now it's mourning this young lady which was so, from the workers I know she was a big-hearted person and that family is going to remember this day for the rest of their life. It was her Dad's birthday."
"I plead to the authorities to do something about it because they know exactly what is going on, please help us because this is going to affect the whole tourism industry."
Fr. Eduardo Montemayor, Pastor
"I am concerned that if the gangs are using the rehab lounge or Jaguar as a hub for them then we must demand that be permanently closed, if it's going to be used as a hub for gangs, as a hub for gang members. This should be a family-friendly place it needs protection a booth or something here permanently and if anything is a magnet or attracting these gang members to form this as a hub then that needs to be eliminated. This needs to be a safe place where people can come, families can come and just enjoy themselves."
And what's curious about the community's fears is the fact that they certainly had no immediate effect. New Year's Eve saw tourists strolling, taking smiling pictures, and preparing to celebrate. You couldn't know from these sunny pictures that anything at all happened in San Pedro.
Still, the Commissioner is taking anything but a nonchalant approach, On Saturday he told 7News that things in San Pedro were going to change.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"My instructions to the team that is coming out is that these gang members, and we have three pockets of gangs in San Pedro. These gang members must not be allowed to breathe sleep or eat in peace. Every move they make the police must be on them and I am sending out a team specifically to deal with them and I hope Cherisse that when the police come and deal with them and they run to channel 7 to complain about police brutality that you all chase them because at the end of the day as a society, we must know when enough is enough."
But more than vengeance, the town priest called for atonement:
Fr. Eduardo Montemayor, Pastor
"And I think when innocent blood is shed in our streets, as a town before, that we cry out to God for vengeance, and we as a town need to make atonement for when innocent blood is shed like this, especially because they are our guests, they are our visitors here and we have a sacred duty to protect our visitors and our guests."
Bowens' postmortem indicates that her cause of death was a shot to the neck.
