Before Luke Jones and his mother were murdered, he was a part of the Belize Assembly for Persons with Diverse Abilities, known as BAPDA. They issued a press release condemning not just the murders of Jones and his mother, but two other wheelchair users who have been killed in the past few months.
It's a disturbing trend of violence against those with diverse abilities and one that the disability desk coordinator at the Ministry of Human Development denounced. Marshall Nunez said that he's known Jones for decades, and never expected his life to be taken away in this manner.
We spoke with him today and Courtney Menzies has this story.
45 year old Luke Jones was killed over the weekend, but he will not soon be forgotten by those he interacted with. Jones may have been partially paralyzed, but that never stopped him from moving through the city streets and from making a living.
And though Jones had been disabled from birth, he was always active in his community. The Disability Desk Coordinator, Marshall Nunez, said he knew Jones from childhood.
Marshall Nunez, Disability Desk Coordinator
"It's completely devastating the way their lives were taken away. I know Luke a long time ago, I knew Luke from he was a young student at Stella Maris, that's many years ago and when I was in the city council, Luke was hired by the city council and he worked with us. After he left the city council, we kept in touch by virtue of my work. From time to time I would be in contact with Luke. In fact, the last time I met him was maybe a couple weeks ago, I met him in downtown plaza but whenever there are any stuff that we have from the disability desk, I'll be more than happy to find Luke and sometime when I'm not able to find him I'll take the stuff to his mom. It's sad what happened to Luke, a young man with a disability."
He added that because Jones was so active, they needed to ensure he had mobility access.
Marshall Nunez, Disability Desk Coordinator
"There were a couple times when I had to replace Luke's manually operated wheelchairs. Luke gets around so the wheels from the wheelchair would deteriorate but I think it was such a wonderful opportunity for him when he had gotten his motorized wheelchair and he was able to move around more independently so I am really proud of him when he had gotten that motorized wheelchair. when I was the president of BAPDA, Luke was also there and I really need to acknowledge BAPDA for putting out the press release over the weekend denouncing the senseless killing but for recognizing Luke who was a member."
"Luke, despite his disability, he's very vocal but very jovial. You can joke with him. And one thing I can tell you, he's committed. Whenever there's meetings, Luke will be there."
And Nunez pointed out that Jones is the third wheelchair user to be killed within the past 7 months. Back in December 2024, 18 year old Trayson Gibson - who was left paralyzed after the was shot 3 years prior - was gunned down. Then in March, 40 year old Gion Bernard - who was again left paralyzed from a bullet - was murdered in broad daylight. All three victims were killed near their homes.
Nunez said it's a problem that needs to be addressed. In terms of Jones, he said that he wouldn't have expected him to be a victim of gun violence since he was not involved in criminal activity.
Marshall Nunez, Disability Desk Coordinator
"We really have to renounce the fact that over the past few months, three people who are users of wheelchairs were gunned down. It's sad that they're persons who have a disability but it's worse with Luke because Luke is not in that type of world. So again we have to express our condolences and we really need to advocate for this kind of violence against persons with disabilities to stop."
"He rolled up to me, was in very good spirits as always and so we just had a little chitchat, I really didn't ask what he was up to but Luke gets around because he has survival instincts despite his disability and I think that's why I didn't ask because I thought that's what he was out there doing just surviving the way he does and not troubling anybody."
Nunez said that he will reach out to Jones' family to provide assistance.
