George Street Boss Murdered

Gerald ‘Shiny’ Tillett

Fear blanketed Belize City and Dangriga as the most violent weekend since the start of the year started to unfold. The murder of the reputed gang boss of George Street, Gerald ‘Shiny’ Tillett caught police by surprise but they quickly moved to shut down businesses and clear the streets immediately after his murder on Saturday night in Dangriga. While police attempted to prevent further violence, there was other loss of life and several shootings that are believed to have been to avenge Tillett’s execution. Two gunmen opened fire, one shooting Tillett and killing him instantly and the other, with a licensed weapon, firing in self-defense. In the mayhem, the alleged killer was also shot. News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports from Dangriga.  

Isani Cayetano, Reporting

Bullets and sheer chaos under the Wadani Shed, a popular watering hole and gambling den on St. Vincent Street, has left one person dead and three others, including the alleged gunman, injured.  A routine evening at this establishment in Dangriga often sees any number of people gathered under the thatch palapa socializing and making merry.  Saturday was no different.  Among a group of patrons at the bar was Gerald ‘Shiny’ Tillett.  The reputed George Street boss was seated next to two others around this makeshift wooden table.  An eyewitness who asked to remain anonymous recounts what happened next.

Voice of: First Eyewitness

“I was sitting on my veranda and then I saw a young man came [dressed] in full black, stood behind him, took out a gun and started firing shots.”

The indiscriminate gunfire left Tillett mortally injured when a round from the salvo penetrated his temple.  A second, unnamed onlooker also shares her perspective of the deadly shooting.

Voice of: Second Eyewitness

“We usually sit on the veranda but at first we were just sitting and looking around and suddenly like we heard a noise and we thought it was pop-shot.  But after realizing it was not pop-shot we saw, you know when you shoot yoh got like wahn reflection pan di bullet, like wahn light.  So we saw the light, so we seh okay now, dah noh pop-shot, dah gunshot.”

By then the attacker was already attempting to flee the scene.

Voice of: First Eyewitness

“He then ran.  The gunman ran.  Then after that Mr. Tillett fell on the table bleeding from his head.  After that he fell on the ground.  But while he was on the ground people, everybody else weh mi deh round deh staat to scatter, not knowing that two other persons along with Mr. Tillett got shot and fell on the ground as well.”

The other men, identified as forty-six-year-old David Rodriguez, proprietor of Wadani Shed, and thirty-seven-year-old Carlos Sharp, were both shot at close range to the chest.

Voice of: Second Eyewitness

“When we realize da neva only di gunman was shooting, someone else was shooting at the same time.  So nobody literally cyan’t go round deh.  Soh now, when time, afta di gunshots cease down da dehn we sih one a di young man da Carlos, Carlos Sharp.  He came and he fall and he holla fi help, mek someone help him but at the time we neva know that di bwai Shiny mi get shot already.  But afta all ah dat when we sih he get shot but you coulda mi done know dat he done dead because di bullet, da middle ah fi he head he get di bullet.”

Acting Deputy Commander of the Dangriga Police Station, Assistant Superintendent Mark Stephens confirms that the alleged assailant, identified as Nicholas Swazo, had also been injured during the incident.  Another person had indeed produced a licensed firearm and shot Swazo in the back.

Mark Stephens

ASP Mark Stephens, Acting O.C., Dangriga Police

“We were questioning Swazo as to how he sustained his injuries and the story he gave us, you know, wasn’t [adding up], you know, was far from what we were getting.  But, nonetheless, we have since had someone confirm to us that they were the one who had shot him and it was, he was shot when he was shooting those three guys.  In fear for the lives of the three that were being shot which is the Tillett, Sharp and Rodriguez, someone who was at the shed with a licensed firearm drew his firearm and shot the shooter.  And so that was how that fourth person come about.”

Details of the deadly attack having been thoroughly explained, the most salient question is why?  What is the motive behind the gangland execution of Gerald ‘Shiny’ Tillett.  The most obvious, presumably, seems to be a longstanding feud between the George Street Gang and the South Side Gangsters, SSG, bitter rivals with a history of enmity that goes back several years.  Swazo’s profile includes his affiliation with SSG.

Nicholas Swazo

ASP Mark Stephens

“He’s originally from Dangriga Town but we believe, we are getting information that he has migrated to Belize City, has been living in Belize City for some years and have some association with one of the South Side Gangs.  But he has been frequenting back and forth between Dangriga and Belize City because we have had run-ins with him here in Dangriga as well.”

On August twenty-sixth, 2015, Swazo walked free after being on remand for the senseless murder of Mennonite businessman Wendelin Reimer who was shot and killed in 2011, during a robbery at his place of business on the Phillip Goldson Highway.  Tillett, on the other hand, was one of several known leaders within the hierarchy of the George Street Gang.  He rose to prominence as head of the criminal outfit when Shelton ‘Pinky’ Tillett, the then leader of George Street, was dispatched in a hail of bullets almost four years ago to date.  Shiny; however, seemingly maintained a low profile as boss of one of Belize City’s most notorious street gangs. Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.