4-month-old is latest victim in city’s bloody violence

We might all be jaded by the sound of gunshots on the streets of Belize City, but when brutal thugs leave children bleeding on the ground all in the name of revenge and petty arguments, it’s time to be outraged. And that is exactly what the country is feeling tonight following reports of an incident over the weekend on the southside of the city in which a four month old child might lose his arm and his mother will never walk again. Latest reports to News Five are that police investigations into the shooting have resulted in the arrest of twenty year old Brandell Michael, a resident of Far West Street. Michael has since been charged with three counts of aggravated assault, three counts of dangerous harm, one count of use of deadly means of harm, and four counts of attempted murder. Michael, who works as a messenger for the court, appeared before Chief Magistrate Herbert Lord today who ordered that the accused be put on remand at the Hattieville correctional facility until January twentieth. Authorities believe Michael is the man who walked into an alley in Belize City and fired several shots at two women, one man, and a small child. This morning I visited the victims at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital in Belize City.

Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
Up until midnight, it had been a typical late Friday night for neighbours twenty-seven year old Jason Rudon, Cynthia Gentle and her twenty-three year old daughter Lisa Garoy. The adults were sitting in Taylor?s Alley socialising… Garoy was holding her four month old baby boy, Leroy Rhaburn, in her arms.

But then out of the darkness three men entered the area through this narrow passage. One man pulled out a handgun, believed to be a nine millimetre pistol, and started pulling the trigger…right at the little group.

Cynthia Gentle, Mother/Grandmother, Shooting Victims
?I think that it was just somebody the pass through the alley. I nevah got my mind that dah wah gunman come to kill we. The man crank up the gun front ah we and start to fire the shots. When we fire the shots he said, all ah unu wa dead.?

Jason Rudon, Shooting Victim
?The young man he mi di just shoot wild. He just start to fire when he reach there, he must mi guess that the three young men di sit down there, but I know he had to see them ladies there, because of the close distance like the from right here so to right there so; nowhere far.?

Lisa Garoy, Shooting Victim
?I just remember I drop on the ground like I deh inna a thing of quick silver cause like I just di goh down through the sand like quick silver. And when I drop and I look up I see a tall person walk pass. I noh know where my baby get to outta my hand.?

In all, the gunman fired seven shots and when it was over, Garoy lay bleeding on the ground with a gunshot wound to her abdomen and left thumb. Baby Leroy was severely injured after a bullet went through his right arm. Rudon was hit in the left leg. Since the incident, a team of more than five doctors have worked round the clock to help the wounded. But while Rudon is expected to recover from his fracture, the baby and his mother are in critical condition. According to the doctors, little Leroy may lose his right arm and his mother is not expected to walk again.

Tonight, all three remain hospitalised at the Karl Heusner Memorial. This morning, Cynthia Gentle did not wish for her face to appear on camera, but she cannot forget how the gunman?s bullets brutalised her little grandson.

Cynthia Gentle
[pointing to baby?s arm] ?The bullet come through here so, come out through yah. I noh know if dah a next shot he get through yah, but he got an injury here too. And then he get scrape back here, back here so he get a big scrape.?

Doctors tell News Five that Lisa Garoy?s paralysis may be just the beginning of her problems. Bullets hit all of the young woman?s major internal organs. It is believed Garoy will have lifetime health complications.

Lisa Garoy
?I would just want to know why he did this to me, because I did not do anything to nobody.?

Cynthia Gentle
?I just want them to find the person and I want him punish for this. I noh want them to send him to jail because it noh make sense they send him dah jail. I would a want somebody make him come and punish the same way how this poor innocent baby di punish. I would want somebody please help and stop the crime weh di happen on the street because the poor innocent people the get hurt and they noh serve it. My daughter noh deserve this, my daughter no deserve this because she noh do nobody nothing, we noh do nobody nothing. And I know the man see we out deh, so he noh ah mi should shot we.?

But who would want to kill an innocent mother and baby? Belize City police say they believe the shooting is in retaliation of another incident that occurred earlier that night on West Street. Reports are that because the suspected West Street triggerman is related to the shooting victims, they were targeted as revenge.

Cynthia Gentle
?I noh really know bout that, I really noh know about that. I noh know what happen, what gone on first. All I know is that they have my sons hold, two of my sons they have hold; for what reasons I don?t know.?

As we reported earlier, the shooting incident in Taylor Alley was triggered by a previous incident on West and Bishop streets. Police have also made arrests in that case, namely eighteen year old Brent Garoy, twenty year old Burton Garoy, and twenty year old Leroy Rhaburn. Rhaburn is the father of the child who was wounded in the second shooting and the Garoys are brothers of paralysed shooting victim, Lisa Garoy. As recently as last week, Rhaburn was fined ten thousand dollars for possession of a pen gun, while the week before he had been charged with robbery for an incident that occurred on December sixth.

As for a motive for the attack, police sources tell News Five that earlier on Saturday night, thirty-nine year old Michael Samuel and twenty-five year old Edison Chee were on West Street near the corner of Bishop Street when they were approached by the Garoy brothers and Rhaburn. Words were exchanged to the effect of “unu noh business inna this neighbourhood.” It is believed that either Rhaburn or one of the Garoys then pulled out a weapon and fired shots at Samuel and Chee. An off-duty police officer in the area at the time responded to the shots and apprehended Brent Garoy on the scene. Subsequent police investigations resulted in the quick arrests of the others, but not before the heart-wrenching scene in Taylor’s Alley had transpired.