Philip Samuels’ intervention in domestic dispute cost him his life

Phillip Samuels

Early on Monday night, thirty-one-year-old Phillip Michael Samuels was stabbed and killed. Samuels was hanging out with a group of friends at an apartment on Boots Crescent, Belize City when he was stabbed once to the chest. Witnesses say that Samuels intervened in a fight in which a man hit a woman, and that decision cost him his life.  He bled profusely, but it would take at least thirty minutes to transport him to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital where he expired two hours later. Police are looking for the murder suspect, who fled in a vehicle. News Five’s Duane Moody has been following this story and files this report.

Duane Moody, Reporting

Apartment number five on the ground floor of South Side Villas on Doris Brooks Crescent was the scene of an altercation turned murder just after seven o’clock on Monday night. Police say thirty-one-year-old Phillip Michael Samuels was stabbed once to the left side of the chest as he socialized with friends inside the apartment.

Supt. Marco Vidal, Regional Commander, Eastern Division South

Supt. Marco Vidal

“Mister Phillip Samuels was at his Boot Crescent apartment and he was socializing along with some friends and one Mister Cecil Gill.  The information is that while socializing, Mister Samuels attempted to intervene in what he observed to be an aggression upon one of the females. In so doing, he was inflicting with a single stab wound to the left side of his chest. Mister Samuels was transported to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries sometime around 10:40 p.m.”

The blood stains inside the apartment and the trail from the door to the pavement are the telltale signs that Samuels hemorrhaged profusely. According to a tenant at the apartment, who was a part of the group of friends drinking and socializing, the stabbing occurred so quickly. Samuels was shortly after assisted out of the apartment, but collapsed in front of the building. Thirty-minutes later, they managed to get a vehicle to rush him to the hospital. The tenant recounts what happened.

Voice of: Tenant

“Phillip Samuels and another guy got into an argument so I exit the apartment and when I went back in, I saw them fighting and blood was everywhere. Blood was coming from Phillip; that’s when we saw that he got stabbed and then me and another girl helped him out of the apartment and on the street he collapsed. Then we took him in the vehicle where they took him to the hospital.”

Reporter

“You didn’t happen to hear what started the argument? You didn’t hear what they said to each other?”

Voice of: Tenant

“I guess Phillip said something to the guy and that’s why it started. It looks like he didn’t like what Phillip said and they started quarrelling inside.  Phillip didn’t like that the guy hit the girl so that’s how it started with he and the next guy.”

Reporter

“So he just targeted the girl; there was no issue between the girl and him?”

Voice of: Tenant

“He said that the girl disrespected his wife in front of him and he neva like that and he hit the girl. But the girl was already unconscious…she neva know weh happen so we just helped her inside the apartment and we left her there. And then he came back and asked if the gial okay and then we say yes. A lee while after he went back outside and came back and he and Phillip had arguments inside.”

By several witness accounts, Samuels was defending a woman who had been knocked unconscious by the accused killer and when he intervened, he was stabbed and killed. So how well did the two know each other?

Voice of: Tenant

“He dah wah nice person. Once he see you on the street, he wah hail yo, smile with yo, hang out, take ih lee drink to time; he had ih baby around the lane. I neva know him as nobody weh trouble anybody.”

Supt. Marco Vidal

“We know that there has been some instances where the police have dealt with him and we are aware of the kind of behavior that he has.”

Several statements have been recorded and police are currently seeking the person, who fled the scene in a vehicle after fatally wounding Samuels.

Supt. Marco Vidal

“The officers are seeking him right now. We have visited several homes in Belize City where we suspect that he may be, but we understand that he may also be outside of Belize City. So we have sent out an all-formation message seeking him.”

Reporter

“Any murder weapon retrieved sir, from the scene?”

Supt. Marco Vidal

“Yes, a knife was retrieve, the length of eleven inches and it had some blood stains on it. So the Scenes of Crime had processed the scene and they retrieved that knife.”

Duane Moody for News Five.