The long Easter weekend saw a number of stabbings, shootings, and violent pint bottle incidents. But the cops in Cayo had their hands full with a murder that occurred early on Sunday morning in San Ignacio.
The victim, 72-year-old William Maxwell Smith, lives in the US, but had plans to retire in Belize. He visited often, and though he was just here in December, he returned to the country in February.
Smith wanted to build a resort right on his hilltop property, and his family believes those aspirations may have led to his death.
It's a violent incident in a relatively peaceful area, and 7News has been tracking it since the sound of gunshots shattered a silent Easter Sunday morning in the residential area. Courtney Menzies has the story.
This ambulance and the police truck behind it are seen here rushing to a home in the Kontiki area of San Ignacio on Sunday morning at around 9:30, where it was reported that an aggravated burglary had turned violent leaving four men shot - one of them fatally.
The homeowner was 72-year-old William Smith, a retiree who often travelled between the US and Belize. He'd only been here for a little over a month before he was killed by one of the men who broke into his home.
The police acted quickly, and this drone footage shows the moment that police apprehended one of the suspects who had surrendered. The cops showed up after Smith's friend, who'd gone to visit him, called 911 when he realized the victim was being held up at gunpoint.
But it wasn't just Smith - other persons, including his sister, were also being held hostage. Gunshots sounded inside the house, which set off a shootout that left both suspects and an officer with injuries.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Upon police arrival at the location they came under fire by those persons who were engaged in the home invasion. Police returned fire and one of the individual was caught to the leg and he was subsequently detained by police. A search of the house that was being burglarized, police found the lifeless body of the homeowner, one Mr Smith, with gunshot injuries."
"Based on the police observations on the scene as well as the information shared by the police of those who were present, police launched an intense manhunt for a second suspect. That second suspect is now in police custody and there were two firearms stolen from the home of Mr Smith during the aggravated burglary, those two firearms have also been recovered by police, as well as one of the weapon used by burglars when they entered the home, that weapon was also recovered by police and so at this time investigators are putting the pieces together and hopefully we should be able to lay charges against those two individuals today as well as some who we believe were involved in the setting up of the entire matter, they will be charged for conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary."
"At this time, two suspects have gunshot injuries, one of them we believe was shot by the homeowner, but ballistic is going to confirm that, and the other one was shot by police while he was escaping from the scene."
It's a murder that has left the town reeling, since Smith was popular in the community. According to his son, he had no idea what was happening until he started getting alarming phone calls.
Voice of: Eldridge McDougal, Son of Deceased
"On Sunday around 10:00 in the morning, my eldest son, he called me and he told me that he heard that there was some shots in the area, on top of the hill and he asked me to find out exactly what the shots were all about. A couple minutes later I had another friend that texted me and he asked me if everything was okay. At the same time, I never knew what happened, I was still at home. From there I took and I went by the police station and that's when I saw one of the workers for my dad and he came out and his eyes were red like he had been crying and he told me that he is sorry for what had happened and begged condolences to me in the loss of my dad."
And McDougal believes that he was targeted because of this unfinished building sitting at the front of the lot, which Smith had planned to turn into a resort.
Voice of: Eldridge McDougal, Son of Deceased
"From my basic knowledge of what I know, he always goes back to the states back and forth and he's an icon here in San Ignacio and everybody knows that he lives in the states and that he's building a building that attracted the attention of many around the country and that probably sparked some kind of attention to people that he's back and forth to Belize and the states and probably that's why he became a target."
"He was a very well known prominent person here in San Ignacio. He held a high position in the United Nations working for Belize for many years and he's a retired person from the UN, he used to live in New York, now he decided that he wanted to come to Belize to build a resort and you know to come and retire here in Belize, that's who he is. But he is a well known person who gave a lot of jobs in Cayo."
"It's very difficult, any loss is a major loss for the family. My brothers, they will be coming shortly, in a couple of days they will be here and it's hard going forward but we just keep it as a family and we keep trying, from one day to the next."
And the commissioner hopes that the speedy and efficient work of the Cayo cops can help to alleviate some of the family's grief.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"I will commend the police in San Ignacio Town for the exceptional response, I think that the officers were very brave in how they responded, they were also diligent, as well as the investigations they conducted after the incident occurred was also exceptional and I say thanks to them for again demonstrating to the public that even though the situation was a bad one, the family can breathe a sigh of relief to know that those person who are responsible for what transpired are going to face swift justice because we're going to make sure that we put together the investigation file as quickly as we can and get it to the DPP office for prosecution."
Smith leaves behind four sons.
As we mentioned, one of the officers was shot and is currently recovering. Smith's sister was also grazed and had to receive stitches.
