Second Overnight Murder Claims Clinton Fitzgibbon in King’s Park

Clinton Fitzgibbon

Forty-five-year-old Clinton Fitzgibbon of Eighth Street, Kings Park in the city was shot multiple times on Tuesday night. Fitzgibbon was along with his common-law-wife Dorita Wallace when a gunman walked up to them and opened fire on the unsuspecting couple. While Wallace was injured on the calf, Fitzgibbon did not survive the attack and perished as he received treatment at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. That murder occurred within houses of another on Saturday night in which Luis Dominguez was also shot and killed. News Five’s Duane Moody set out to find out if the homicides are linked and files the following report.

Duane Moody, Reporting

Around eleven-thirty on Tuesday night, shots rang out yet again on Eight Street in a quiet King’s Park neighbourhood. As forty-five-year-old Clinton Fitzgibbon and his common-law-wife, thirty-seven-year-old Dorita Wallace sat outside of their residence, a gunman approached and opened fire on them. Clinton was hit multiple times to the chest and back, while Wallace was hit once to the left calf as their children were inside the house. The couple was rushed to the K.H.M.H. where Clinton would later succumb while receiving treatment.

Jacklyn Fitzgibbon, Sister of Murder Victim

“He was sitting on the refridge with his girlfriend, his children’s mother and I heard that the person just came and fired shots and you know, just killed him, and the young lady got shot in her foot.”

Jacklyn Fitzgibbon

Duane Moody

“How many shots did he receive?”

Jacklyn Fitzgibbon

“Well I don’t know.”

Duane Moody

“From all indications, from what I understand, he wasn’t a bad person or ih no give trouble.”

Jacklyn Fitzgibbon

“No he’s not. He’s not the type that will go out there and give no type of trouble. I could understand if he was a gang member or deh out there di give trouble, then I could say okay, this dah the outcome of it. But I mean to say innocently—innocently for no reason.”

It is believed that the gunman came for Clinton’s younger brother, but would instead kill him and injure his wife. According to Jacklyn Fitzgibbon, the murder is related to that of Luis Dominguez, who was killed three days earlier and two houses away.

Luis Dominguez

Jacklyn Fitzgibbon

“It’s probably something like a kind of retaliation. They say they were supposed to kill one of my other brothers, but instead they ketch this one. Because they were claiming that my other brother had something to do with the death of “Esse,” which at the time from what I heard, they say he wasn’t anywhere around. He was at a party on Mahogany Street, somewhere around that area, and this is the outcome of that.”

News Five understands that the incident may have been motivated by drugs being peddled in the area. Police are on high alert following further threats of retaliation in the wake of the two homicides in the quiet King’s Park neighborhood. This is also the second City Council employee to be killed. While Dominguez was employed in the works department, Fitzgibbon worked in the sanitation unit for years.

Jacklyn Fitzgibbon

“He walked freely; he is not in fear of anyone because he noh do nobody nothing. He dah from work to home; I noh even know my breda as somebody weh have friends. I noh know him to say he deh with this one or he deh yah with dah one. I know he as a person from here to work; take care of his four children.”

Dion Leslie

Dion Leslie, Councillor, Belize City Council

“Over the past year and a half to two years, we’ve taken a lot of hits at the Council. We’ve lost a lot of staff members and it doesn’t get easier. This one is just as hard as the others were.  We do have counselling when we see staff need it. They do come in. we have some great personnel on board who we assess the situation and see if anyone wants to come in and want to talk about it. Of course, I always hate to say that we get so numb to this now that it’s just another incident that you would see on the news. But it’s been hitting us a lot closer to home now in the council.”

Wallace remains hospitalized at the K.H.M.H. in a stable condition. Duane Moody for News Five.