Eugene Pitts Dies 3 Weeks After Being Shot
Eugene Pitts
The Hattieville community on the George Price Highway has recorded its first murder for this year leaving a mother to mourn the death of her only son. The Hattieville resident had just left the K.H.M.H., but had to turn back at about six-thirty on Thursday evening when she was notified of the demise of twenty-three year old Eugene Pitts. Pitts was shot on January twenty-fifth while he was at a party in the village. Duane Moody files this report.
Duane Moody, Reporting
Eighteen days after he was shot, Hattieville resident Eugene Pitts passed away. Twenty-seven year old Pitts remained hospitalized since the shooting three weeks ago but on Thursday night after several rounds of surgery and treatment; he died at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. The investigation has since been upgraded to murder.
Sgt. Orlando Cruz, Deputy O.C., Hattieville Police Formation
“Eugene Pitts had received a gunshot wound to the left lower side of the back. He was transported to the hospital in Belize City, K.H.M.H., where he underwent several surgeries and thereafter he was undergoing treatment and he succumbed to his injuries. So far we have recorded statements from persons in respect to this investigation; the investigation is still ongoing and I would like to ask the Hattieville public to help us with this very untimely death of Eugene Pitts, with respect to any information that they have, to come to us.”
Carson, as he was affectionately known by relatives and friends in the community, was injured back in the wee hours of January twenty-fifth as he socialized at a party held by the Bowen family on Camal Street in Hattieville. A lone gunman hiding in surrounding bushes reportedly fired the deadly pellets from a shotgun. It caught Pitts on the lower left side of the back.
Voice of: Friend of Shooting Victim [File: January 26th, 2015]
“Everyone was partying, socializing, having fun; drinking was at a low…everybody was mostly in their sober point. Mostly family and friends were here; nobody that gives trouble and everybody was dancing under the tent. Carson was more to the back but everybody was having fun, talking and the moment was just right. I was going inside the house to get a drink of water when I heard a loud bang. Then I heard people saying that it was the speakers that blow, but the speakers were still on. I went around and I saw someone laying on the ground and people screaming out and everybody tripping saying Carson got shot. Well I didn’t know what to say because I couldn’t believe it. An area like us? We? What could we possibly do to anyone that would want to shoot Carson? I didn’t know how I felt that night. All the little families, the babies, pregnant ladies, mothers. It was a very sensitive area to have a gunshot like that burst off. And it was a scattered shot because little holes were in the top of the tenth. So imagine a baby would have gotten shot, a pregnant lady…someone of that concern…mien that would have been very bad.”
While police do not believe that Pitts was the intended target, a motive has not been ascertained. No one has either been detained in connection with this shooting turned homicide.
Sgt. Orlando Cruz
“So far we haven’t detained any one suspect in respect to this incident. We have only questioned certain persons in respect to their whereabouts and persons who were at the party and what they saw, what they heard. But so far we have no witness, no suspect detained with respect to this incident.”
Orlando Cruz
Duane Moody
“Motive behind this shooting?”
Sgt. Orlando Cruz
“Presently we cannot ascertained a motive in respect to this shooting. We are still investigating to ascertain if there was any gang rivalry or any beef between any persons at the party. But we are still trying to ascertain a motive at this time.”
Duane Moody
“It is believed that Mister Pitts was the intended target?”
Sgt. Orlando Cruz
“Well so far, our investigation has not really revealed anything to that sort. We are still investigating if indeed he was the intended target in respect to this shooting. But we are still investigating this matter.”
All indications are, however, that the gunman is also a resident of Hattieville. Duane Moody for News Five.
