Just after midnight on Friday there was another murder in the city. And like so many others before it, it was gang related. But, in this case, it was Denise Stewart's second son taken by gang violence.
She spoke to us today:
When Denise Stewart looks at her cell phone - she keeps coming back to this voice message - a warning to her son that came too late:
Voice of:
"Mine how you di come een bwai from southside on Antelope Street, because I don't know where if it's front of Maria house or in front of house. Police di pass right now, hear it. Because dem bussup a lot of dynamite just now and after the dynamite done buss, a lot of gunshot."
He never got the message, and it wasn't dynamite, it was a barrage of gunfire all targeting the same son she was trying to warn.
Denise Stewart, Lost Second Son in Two Years
"Not knowing when I call my son and di tell my son that, it's my son getting shot up right there."
Daniel Tillett was shot and killed just a hundred feet from his home by gunmen waiting for him to return from the Casino at 12:30 am:
Denise Stewart, Lost Second Son in Two Years
"Apparently weh I get fi understand they one down di street mek di phone call and seh ih di come een and they one mi di wait pon him right by the green house in front of the garage and right there they lay wait him and ambush him."
There are multiple gangs in the neighborhood and it seems they all wanted him dead.
After one of the gangs murdered his younger brother Gabriel in 2023, Tillett had tried to escape his fate by running to the US. But that didn't work and he self deported one year ago. And even though he gotten work at a call center and was building a small home in the family yard for his own family, he found himself right in the crosshairs of the gangs in his neighborhood:
Jules Vasquez
"He couldn't escape."
Denise Stewart, Lost Second Son in Two Years
"He couldn't escape - he said he was going back next year, because he was trying to get out of this violence that is happening in Belize. You don't stand a chance in Belize if you are a male person."
The odds were narrow and for this young father of a one year old - they were nil - even as he tried to defy them:
Denise Stewart, Lost Second Son in Two Years
"He seh ma, I noh do nobody nutting back here ya. He seh he no wah di hide and put his life and not live his life because he has to hide from they and that's why he still passes this street."
And that's where they killed him - a death that sadly seemed inevitable:
Denise Stewart, Lost Second Son in Two Years
"They kill my first son, because a my same second son weh they wah kill and they couldn't ketch him and den my next lee son mi di have a lee mental breakdown and then he start to be friend with everybody and I tell him Gabriel, dem bwai da no yuh friend, they no like Daniel and they will hurt yuh because that's try they di try reel yuh in fu mek yuh get close to them. He seh ma they bwai straight, they bwai alright. They kill my son."
They were both killed close to home - and now this mother who has lost two - and has one surviving son
Denise Stewart, Lost Second Son in Two Years
"My other son, because I don't know if they have it in for him too and he doesn't mess with anyone, he do even have friends, he doesn't go anywhere."
And, between grief, protection and self preservation this mother is doing her best to hold up:
Denise Stewart, Lost Second Son in Two Years
"Well I di try I di try my best fi keep myself together because apart from all of this stuff I have an illness that I am facing rightt now. I got diagnose with cancer last year December and I just came from radio therapy 2 weeks ago. So I am trying to contain myself and not stress too much."
