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Tonight, there is another murder to report - the fourth since the State of Emergency was declared on March 26th.
And that's causing the police senior command to call for expanding and extending the SOE.
That's the strong reaction to last night's murder where the victim is a coast guard officer, who's bloodline and home base runs right into the gang warfare.
Jomarie Lanza found out more for us today:
Moved by the memories of his uncle Winston Tanga James, who was murdered back in January of 2022, his nephew Charles James posted this picture on his story with the caption "Miss Yuh Uncs" just hours before he would meet the same fate as his late uncle.
Just after 9:00 last night on Consuelo Street, the 25 year old Coast Guard officer was gunned down, just a stone's throw away from his home. According to the Compol, apprehending the two gunmen resulted in a number of bullets being let off from both sides.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Police in responding to the incident encountered two men who were fleeing the crime scene at the particular moment. They first encountered a police officer who was off duty in plain clothes and upon the police officer saying to them "police" they turned their weapon at the police, but did not fire, but the police fired at them. Fearing For his life, he did fire at them. They continued fleeing and little after that they encountered another police officer who was on duty and was dressed in BDU. And this police officer came face-to-face with the two alleged gunmen and they fired shots at the police. The police returned fire, and the two men continued to run. I can say that the police officer uniform had bullet holes from the shooting, but thankfully he was not injured."
And while the police was not injured, the alleged shooter was:
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Where they found one Jalen Jones who was suffering from a gunshot injury to the foot, and seemingly he had already gotten someone to assist him in tying the wound to prevent, to stop the bleeding. Police took custody of Jones. And from all indications, he was dressed in the same clothing that one of the two alleged gunmen were dressed in. And police also followed the blood trail from where the officers had fired shots at the gunmen and the blood trail led to where he was found so we were showed that he was one of those person who is involved in the murder and was also one of those who shot at the police."
And as this street shootout between police and the assailants continued to unfold, upon detaining Jalen Jones, his family members followed the police vehicle to the Racoon street police station where his brother in law, a US citizen, went live on Facebook accusing the police of not only assaulting him but also refusing medical care to Jones.
Joseph A Camp - Live on Facebook
"They are just telling me i cant come over here you have not taken my brother in law to the hospital. I am an American citizen and I was just assaulted by a Belize officer. And now they have my brother in law who was shot in the back of a truck over here and they have not taken him to the hospital to give him medical treatment."
"Mr Chester Williams I really need your attention right now. My son is looking to die directly and the police I don't know what kind of interrogation they are on. But for over an hour this boy is out here and they have been driving around and around from station to station and I need help Mr Chester Williams. These police are on wicked timings. He was out there by the lane and he got shot yo with those other guys he run for his F*cking life and they want to say that he did it. How will it be him when all these guys are friends? 3:44
According to the Compol, Jones' injuries were not life threatening and they were following protocol where the police are not expected to transport injured persons to the hospital.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"As you would know that there is a standing protocol that we do not transport injured persons to the hospital. The police only transport the dead. Injured persons to be transported by the ambulance and the police officers had the young man to the Mahogany station awaiting for the ambulance to arrive so that the ambulance could have transported him to the hospital. For me personally, I would not have wanted to have escorted him for the main fact that he is the same one who had shot at the police and secondly, it was the same police officers that he had shot at who had him in custody to avoid any speculations I would have preferred for the ambulance to take him. I saw a live last night where persons were going off and saying the police left the man in the vehicle to bleed to death. let me see that the man's injuries were not life-threatening. the bleeding had stopped because they had tied it up with some and the police were just waiting for the ambulance to come and take him. See the ambulance took too long the police eventually Took him to the hospital. but again, persons were flustered because they were not allowed to go near the police vehicle and that could be for the simple fact that when you have a person who is accused of killing another in the same area, you would not want to have any or anybody approach the vehicle that he is in because what if it could be associates of the person he had killed, who would have wanted to then come and kill him in the police vehicle. The police had to make sure that the accused was safe in their care at that particular moment..."
Though it may seem that the department is one step closer to levying charges against the two individuals responsible for James' murder, we asked the Compol if they have established a motive behind this recent murder.
Jules Vasquez:
"Do you believe that to Mr. James was targeted because of his family relations or because of the neighborhood he lives in or because he may be perceived. we know the may have been perceived to be affiliated with the BLC gang is that why he was targeted?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"We believe that it has to do with a woman"
We note that the proudly professed US Citizen in that Facebook Live, Joey Camp,seems to have a reputation as somewhat of a social media menace in the US - where he has been accused of a number of misdeeds. Belize police are now looking for him to charge him with spreading false news.
