2 Dead, 6 Injured in Retaliatory Shootings, Belize City On Lockdown
John Avilez
Belize City came under siege on Wednesday. In a spate of seven hours, three men were murdered. It started in the early afternoon when Cyril McFoy, the father of a notorious George Street figure, was murdered as he played dominoes in his yard while classes were ongoing nearby at Saint Ignatius School. Within hours, McFoy’s murder triggered a spate of shootings in different areas of the city. By the time the gunfire subsided, as many as eight persons had fallen victims to Wednesday night’s gun violence. Two men lost their lives, another is in critical condition and five others are being treated for varying degrees of injuries. Police believe the bloodbath is all gang related. News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports.
Isani Cayetano, Reporting
Clifford Flores
The mid-afternoon murder of Cyril McFoy, the father of well-known street figure Brandon Tillett, is believed to have triggered a spate of retaliatory attacks across Belize City overnight. Those incidents have resulted in two additional murders and have also left several others hospitalized with varying degrees of injuries. McFoy, along with three others were playing a game of dominoes inside a yard at the corners of Euphrates Avenue and Dean Street when they came under sustained gunfire. When the shooting subsided the fifty-six-year-old had been mortally wounded after being shot in the head.
Reporter
“Could you tell us if this man’s son was the target?”
Raphael Martinez, Police Press Officer
“I’m not sure at this point.”
Despite initial uncertainty, Belize City police are of the opinion that the lone gunman had been assigned to carry out a hit on Tillett. Reprisals for the slaying of his father would follow by nightfall. Shortly after seven o’clock on Wednesday, twenty-five-year-old Clifford Flores, along with two others, was seated atop a parked vehicle in front of his home near Caesar Ridge Road where the first of three deadly shootings would take place.
Voice of: Uncle of Clifford Flores
“While my nephew and two of his friends were sitting on my brother-in-law’s white car and they just launched the assault, a barrage of shots, I woulda sehe about nine to ten, in my approximation. All I could do and dah tell my loved ones upstairs to get down. About a minute and a half I woulda sehe di shots subside and then I come downstairs to check because I’m aware that my nephew and his friends were down here, you know. His two friends were able to escape while he ended up being fatally wounded. I saw my nephew crawling, ih sehe, “uncle ah straight, ah get shot eena mi stomach, ker mi dah hospital. My neighbor who was one of the intended targets brought his pickup and we swiftly ferried my nephew to the Karl Heusner.”
F
lores would later succumb to his injuries.
Less than an hour later gunfire once again erupted, this time near the corners of Antelope Street and Central American Boulevard where twenty-six-year-old Joseph Roland had been purchasing food near the intersection. A single round caught him in the head. While police were busy processing that crime scene, a group of young men were socializing on Angel Lane when they too came under attack. Twenty-eight-year-old Nigel Ferguson, thirty-year-old Mark Alamilla, twenty-eight-year-old William Savery and twenty-six-year-old John Avilez were all fired upon by an unknown assailant who exited a vehicle and began shooting. During the melee, Avilez was hit twice to the right side of the chest and once to the right arm. Officer Commanding Eastern Division, Assistant Commissioner of Police Dezeree Phillips.
Dezeree Phillips
Dezeree Phillips, O.C., Eastern Division
“We have six persons detained and that is for incidents that occurred between two p.m. yesterday and eight o’clock last night.”
The rash of shootings has been attributed to affiliates of the George Street Gang, otherwise known as Gaza.
Isani Cayetano
“You mentioned earlier that this assault was launched by the Gaza, meaning George Street. What leads you to make this assertion? It’s a bold claim being made, what leads you to believe that someone or others from that particular area are responsible for carrying out this hit?”
Voice of: Uncle of Clifford Flores
“Well like I said Isani, all ah we familiar because Belize is a small society, ih noh big, da noh New York wih deh. All ah we know weh di happen yo undastand. Everybody know bout di red in color vehicle that dehn always di patrol bout and di white in color one that belong to a certain character. We are all aware of the threat George Street poses to the city, if not to the country because we see the prevalence of how this gang violence is spreading to other areas of the country right. And when I sehe I believe da George Street because I sehe mi bredda dis da Belizean society, people like talk. It is hearsay but there are saying that if da noh so da nearly so. So wi yer di talking, like ah sehe da noh only my family. Two other families apparently lost loved ones last night, everybody was bawling consoling each other. Everybody hollered George Street chancey, dehn think dehn run di city.”
Police have since detained six men for their alleged role in the overnight mayhem. Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.
the police need to be exactly where the George street gang members live or hang out everyday to monitor there movement, they have these savages taking people lives for nothing. by the way they cant even come up with there own name “gaza”, they aint no Jamaicans just probably dropout students & deportees,
The crime and violence in the city wont stop believe me…here is a simple idea, round up all gang bangers from around all areas of the city..take all of them to a secured secluded area so they cant escape…give each of them a gun and let them war it out among themselves since they want to war…let them kill out themselves one by one…would be a real benefit to society..or option two idea, organize a death squad of highly trained police and military personnel…round up all these gang bangers ( police know who they are), take them to a secluded area and off them one by one…dig some mass graves and bury them…society wont miss them..they do nothing to contribute positively to society..they wont be missed…this would set an example to the rest…if the government or the police wont do it then sooner or later the law abiding citizens will take the laws into their own hands and do jus that..
These are the things that convinces me that corruption and graft is at the bottom of all this madness and murders taking place on the south side of the city. Like the gentleman said off camera, everybody,(except the Police) know who the perpetrators are, yet these few criminals get to unleash their terror on the rest of the law abiding citizenry. Maybe, when this violence pays a personal visit on one of their loved ones, those in authority will stop playing the fool.
But know this…. things will, get worse before it gets better, because this is not even the end. This is only the beginning of the end. Take heed! It is right there in Scripture.
I WAS considering moving back to Belize some day. Now, I am pretty sure I won’t. The GSU, police, goverment, BDF, SOMEBODY- SQUASH THE GANGS & get your country back!!
Now we are over 5000 murders and this corrupt impotent incompetent pm and gov are still in office so what I say now is you belizeans deserve whatever unu get for being fools and not demanding that this pm and gov resign.
my advise is to defend our self from those kind of persons, i hope police understand that they can’t control the situation i rather defend my family from those pervs than the police say “we still investigating the murder of your family sir” i will kill them before they touch my family i will defend my family in my community this is getting out of control and the police should know it
I know most of the time, we all jump and say it is the Government fault ect but hearing the prime minister talk last night about the situation our country is in was shocking and you can tell he doesn’t even have hope for our country. P.M. Borrow knows the law that it is illegal to affiliate with any gang so then why is it that he “makes deals” with them? If you know they are illegal then why not just arrest them? Why is it that as soon as our country is in a crisis the GSU uncovers a BIG drug bust? Our ministers is selling us short for a few votes from the gang members and it is sad that as a community we take it. We need a Belizean hero to take out this corrupted ministers and gang members.
@ Louisville, Ky :Well said i don’t need to rub it in any further.
Belize needs to get rid of all off george street bouldouzer it all down an change the name let all the people disperse
@Rod, yes Rod, this is for you. If there aint no mountain high enough, find a ditch deep enough. … walk off! your comments make no sense at all. What can the government do about this crime situation? please tell me. It’s people like you who sit back and point a blaming finger at everyone but yourself that has this country in the state that it is. Maybe if you would take some time to teach the youths something (not that i think you can, based on your comments), maybe we’ll have fewer criminals in the streets…but since you’re not doing that, just STFU!
@Belizean Soul, I too wanted to come home and live out my retirement, the way things are going I do not think so either. After working so hard to get to a place where you can take it easy the thieves comes in and kill you for your own stuff.
I agree with RedBwai, since they hate each other so much, take them to a field and let them fight it out between themselves. Let them fight to the last man standing and then the BDF take the last man standing out. Never thought I would begin to think like the savages, but how else do we rid the country of these varmits.
Yes I agree so many of us want to come home but this violence keeps us away. All belizeans at home and abroad waiting for national leaders do something to take back the country. U know what needs to be done but lack courage apparently. Shame on you all.
Red Bwai is right! In fact, I would take it a step further. These murderers deserve nothing less than being tortured to death in public! Just putting them in jail, or even just killing them is not enough. Examples need to be made of them. My best friend, who I have known since pre-school all the way to university, John Avilez, has passed away. I still cannot believe it! He did not have to go this way! He deserved much much better than this. He was a very kind and good human being, and his death has shocked and hurt so many people. Something has to be done about these animals! Cannot even call these killers humans. Because human beings value life. These creatures do not. Enough is enough!!! Examples need to be made now so that we do not lose any more loved ones! RIP John Avilez Jr. (July 1, 1988 – September 17, 2014)… RIP my brother…