2 Belize City Men Arraigned for Murder of Windell Gibson

Orlando Salazar & Joel Choco

Following Friday evening’s news, police announced the arrest of two men in connection with the murder of Windell Gibson and attempted murder of Karon Santos. The men were shot by assailants on Lindo’s Alley in an attempt to get to another person in the area who escaped. Today, twenty-six-year-old Orlando Salazar of South Creek, and twenty-one-year-old Joel Choco, a construction worker from Taylor’s Alley, were each read one count of murder and one count of attempted murder. They were denied bail and remanded by Acting Chief Magistrate Sharon Frazer until October thirtieth, 2017. This afternoon the regional commander for Eastern Division South, Senior Superintendent of Police Marco Vidal, outlined what police think is the motive for the killing and how they ran down the two accused.

Marco Vidal

Sr. Supt. Marco Vidal, Regional Commander, Eastern Division South

“Following the incident, immediately the special assignment team launched an operation to apprehend the two suspects who were named. They were found a couple hours thereafter. Between that time and the morning, CIB was able to carry out their due diligence and the following day they were arrested and charged in the late evening.”

Reporter

“Do you have a motive at this time?”

Sr. Supt. Marco Vidal

“Well, it appears to have been a retaliation for a previous incident that had occurred two days prior.”

The Conch Shell Bay area has been the site of several violent crimes going as far back as New Year’s Day, when Colin Sutherland was gunned down. Other shooting victims from the area and surroundings include brothers Michael and Clinton “Hog” Frazer, the latter of whom died; and Jaheel Goodger a month later.