Tonight, Belize City grieves for Luke Jones - the well liked man of diverse abilities who was a fixture outside a local. Bakery.
He and his 69 year old mother were targeted in a gang related murder on Friday night - a murder which police didn't find out about on Saturday.
Jules Vasquez spoke to police, neighbors, friends and family of the two deceased. Here's the story of a double murder that broke even the cods of street violence:
On Friday night - sometime after 7:30, a number of shots were heard in the Cedar Street area.
Richard Rosado, Commissioner of Police
"Our initial investigation revealed that the incident may have occurred on the 4th of July, sometime around 7.30 p.m., when shots were heard in the area."
Police responded in numbers but found no victims - and concluded that no one was injured.
That's because the victims were already dead inside this yard. 69 year old Evadine Jones and her 45 year old son Luke, a disabled man, were found dead in their yard at 4161 Cedar Street - they were already decomposing. The house had multiple bullet holes, but the commissioner says they were found outside:
Richard Rosado, Commissioner of Police
"I receive a call around 2:30 p.m. from the U.S. that a neighbor did call them to inform them that they discovered the body."
"And hence the reason I sent the police to confirm the information."
Reporter
"Was it the case that they were shot inside and then trying to seek assistance, they made their way out closer to the street?"
Richard Rosado, Commissioner of Police
"The evidential material that we have received has not supported that. So we believe that they were shot in the yard."
Today, in an act of policing theater the Commissioner and his city commanders marched to the to that yard to make a visit - at a home where both residents had been murdered:
Jules Vasquez
"Are you upset with the police officers for failing to spot a double murder when at least eight units responded that night? How do you miss a double murder?"
Richard Rosado, Commissioner of Police
"If you look at the yard, it's enclosed. The police officers did respond, did detain certain people of interest, but we cannot go in every yard to see if an incident. We would be actually violating those individual rights."
Luke Jones knew how to stand up for his rights. He was well known across Belize City - despite his disability he worked for years at the City Council for 12 years and when - at the age of 33 - he was declared unfit - he demanded fair treatment:
posted (October 19, 2012)
Luke Jones
"I, I need my money ma'am."
Monica Bodden
"Why you decided to come to the media?"
Luke Jones
"Because I need my money, it is my daily bread, ma'am."
And that need for daily bread brought him daily to this bakery, La Popular - on Logwood Street - around the corner from his home.
Today, candles, a photo, a wreath and a bow lay where he would usually sit:
Vandley Jenkins, Area Resident
"Nice young man, nice young man..He has always been over there at La Popular bakery, very nice, mannerly young man."
He would stay out here daily and hustle a few dollars - and that's where he befriended the security guard, known as Primo - he asked to appear off camera:
Voice of: "Primo", Friend
"Everybody know he and that sad what happen."
Jules Vasquez
"You lost a friend."
Voice of: "Primo", Friend
"We lost friend, And…we lost a good friend."
And on Friday night, Primo made sure his friend found his way home- not knowing that's where a killer's bullet would find him:
Voice of: "Primo", Friend
"We help ah to go in his house. But we didn't know what happened. The next day we hear the news and everything."
"Always, I used to tell ah go before 7:00. Lukey, Lukey, go home it's late I used to tell ah."
But, he could not protect his friend from the killers who wanted to send a message to his brother - who is living in the US. That brother, Patrick "Pato" Jones made a series of social media posts on Friday night that police believe led directly to the murder:
Patrick Jones, Son of Deceased
"Who you gwen hurt fi me? My Ma?"
"Bwai, unu got ma too,. Only my ma unu could play with."
And that is just who they targeted.
Richard Rosado, Commissioner of Police
"I do believe that his reckless behavior led to what transpired over the weekend."
Now police have to try to contain the retaliation - from an act of cruelty so extreme that it is unmatched in our records - an elderly woman and her disabled son:
Jules Vasquez
"People in the society are concerned if it can happen to an innocent woman and her disabled son in the privacy of their yard. Where can't it happen? How do you answer the public concern?"
Richard Rosado, Commissioner of Police
"I recognise the concern. I recognise the anger. I recognise the plight of the community. And I want to assure them that we are doing everything that is possible to ensure that we identify and bring these people to justice."
Jules Vasquez
"What's the temperature like? What's the mood like out there after a terrible event like this?"
Andrew Dawson, Ag Director LIU
"Well, I believe the mood is across the board. Everyone is grieving. Everyone is sad. I mean, Ms. Jones was a well-loved person."
"I don't think that anyone is happy with what is going on. But I must say that they're in the mode of grieving. I don't think that they're responding in a way that acts of violence will continue."
Reporter
"Are we at a point of no return where not even the LIU could intervene in a situation like this? You done touch my mom, you done touch a helpless person, and I don't want to hear anything what the LIU or anybody have to say in mediation at this point."
Andrew Dawson, Ag Director LIU
"I don't think we're at a point of no return. And I know that these persons within these communities are as upset as we are, you know, that we don't touch mothers, you know, touch innocent people on a whole, you know, in itself is a crime against humanity, so I believe that we understand that that's a line, it's been crossed in the past before and I'm sure that the other individuals within these communities have no intentions to continue that type of engagement within these streets."
Jules Vasquez
"Are you really sure of that?"
Andrew Dawson, Ag Director LIU
"I can't say I'm sure, I am not sure of that, but I'm sure that LIU and our team, along with the police department, are engaging these individuals to speak this type of message to them to ensure that they understand that that is not the way that we want to go."
The family and the community is left to grapple with an act of incomprehensible violence:
Voice of: Sister of the Deceased
"In the family with anybody, if it's a cousin, a nephew or a niece, Vadney would be first to be there. She was a family person. I can't believe."
Vandley Jenkins, Area Resident
"I cannot wrap my head around it at all. These were nice, decent, respectable people that live in this community. It was a shock Jules, it was shocking."
"Who could have carry such a mind to devastate innocent people? It's terrible. It's terrible."
No suspects have been detained but police have known persons they are looking for.
