In Cayo, Execution Outside Blue Angels Night Club
Kyne Gentle
A resident of Santa Elena was killed in the early hours of Monday morning outside a night club in San Ignacio. Contrary to speculations that Kyne Gentle was partying at the club, the family says he was never there to party just to buy a plate of food from street vendors. But shortly after he purchased the food a gunman walked up and fired two shots killing him on the spot. News Five’s Andrea Polanco was in the west today and shares more about Gentle’s murder.
Adelaida Perez, Grandmother of Deceased
“Like how I raise them like my own children. When I get the shock, I couldn’t tek it.”
Andrea Polanco, Reporting
Adelaida Perez is overcome with grief. It is a pain no grandparent should have to go through but today she and her family are mourning the life of her grandson who was murdered. Twenty-eight-year-old Kyne Gentle was shot and killed just before one-thirty on Monday morning here on Hudson Street, in front of the Blue Angels Night Club in San Ignacio Town. According to his cousin, Lourdes Codd, sometime between one-thirty and two a.m. on Monday morning, Kyne arrived outside the club with a group of friends – one of whom was celebrating a birthday. He bought a plate of food and was standing by waiting for his companions. A man reportedly walked up and shot Kyne in the abdomen. Codd says she only heard the first shot – and when she looked she saw her cousin on the ground – and the gunman stood over him and shot him in the head.
Lourdes Codd
Lourdes Codd, Cousin of Deceased
“It was something very ugly to witness that they kill your own cousin, for you to actually see it in front of your face.”
Andrea Polanco
“So, he was buying food? What was he doing out there?”
Lourdes Codd
“He was just standing there because my husband already gave him the food and he was just waiting for his friends them to leave. Because he didn’t went up in the club. I was in the car resting when I heard the first shot. I didn’t know it was him because you know kids always there popping shots and quetes and stuff. But then I see this and I tell husband what happened and he say that it is a gun-shot and by the time I said that I jumped out of the car and I see the guy over his body and then I hear the other shot and it is over his head . And that is when I screamed out hard and said, ‘ why you killed my cousin?’ And then he tek off and run and then I see him there he was washing in blood and I asked my husband if he is already dead and he said yes.”
Andrea Polanco
“So, the guy shot him once and then when he was on the ground he shot him again?”
Lourdes Codd
“Yes. Shot him again right here. He just bend over and shoot. He actually wanted him dead, I think. Because if you shot a person once and people run there to see you would take off but no, he run off when I screamed.”
Although Lourdes was on the scene, she doesn’t know who the killer is. She says she didn’t see his face because he ran away with a cap pulled down over his face.
Lourdes Codd
“We don’t know who it is because we couldn’t see his face. I just pray to God that we catch him or who do it. If they wanted to kill him long time why they didn’t do that Friday or Saturday – he was out there but now they wait to do that then. I never go out there on Sunday nights. But because I was not going to sell, I was there Sunday night and like it was just to witness that happen.”
So why did this man want Kyne dead? The family is stumped. They say he was well-known in the Santa Elena/San Ignacio communities. But someone clearly wanted to end the life of this all-around athlete who is admired and celebrated in his home town. Kyne was skilled in cycling, horse-racing and canoeing. Tributes from the cycling, equestrian and paddling communities poured in online for the beloved sports star. This picture shows Kyne in a PACT jersey from the La Ruta Maya River Challenge from earlier this year when he was a member of the PACT team. Adelaida Perez, who has raised Kyne since he was three-years-old, recalls the last time she saw him alive.
Adelaida Perez
Adelaida Perez
“It has about two weeks the last time I saw him when he come here. He said, ‘morning, mamma and I tell him morning Kyne.’ He come get the wheelbarrow and the spade and say that he going to do a job with a friend and that is the last time I saw Kyne.”
Andrea Polanco
“So, when you got that news that he was killed right out in San Ignacio, how did you receive that news?”
Adelaida Perez
“Hmmm. That was a shock for me. I couldn’t tek it. I couldn’t tek it. He was a cool person. So, I nuh know why them do it to him. I nuh know nothing. I used to advise them to get off the street. I used to tell them the street dah nuh fi unu. I used to talk to them.”
Andrea Polanco
“He never indicated to you if someone threatened him; if there was a problem?”
Adelaida Perez
“No. Nothing. Nothing. I nuh know nothing, nothing.”
There are several surveillance cameras in the area which may have captured the murder but it is not clear if the killer’s face was visible on any of the videos. Here’s what police had to say about this homicide.
Reporter
“Any motive so far?”
Joseph Myvett
ACP Joseph Myvett, Head, National Crimes Investigation Branch
“No motive.”
Reporter
“Any suspect?”
ACP Joseph Myvett
“None as yet. We are working several leads, though.”
Reporter
“What about security cameras? Any footage obtained?”
ACP Joseph Myvett
“We are looking at as we speak.”
Reporter
“Do police have any ideas into Mister Gentle’s background or past?”
ACP Joseph Myvett
“I know that based on the investigators, we are looking at that. But we are looking at different angles in relation to this investigation.”
Reporting for News Five, I’m Andrea Polanco.
