Orange Walk’s Gang Feud Leaves 2 Persons Injured
Llamont Wade
Police in Orange Walk are trying to stem the bloodbath in an ongoing gang feud which left two persons injured on Christmas Day. Twenty-eight-year-old Llamont Wade and twenty-one-year-old Pablo Reyes were exiting Reyes’ home on Muffles Street when they came under gunfire at around seven o’clock on Christmas morning. Both men survived the attempt on their lives and police are now forced to act quickly and decisively in order to prevent retaliation. Hipolito Novelo reports.
Hipolito Novelo, Reporting
Twenty-one-year-old Pablo Senon Reyes and twenty-eight-year-old Llamont Wade are both tonight lucky to be alive after an attempt on their lives was made early on Christmas morning. Both men were targeted by an armed man on a motorcycle. The shooter was waiting for the right chance to make his move. The men were on Muffles Street, Orange Walk Town, when they came under gunfire.
ASP Alejandro Cowo, O.C., C.I.B., Belize City
“What police gathered so far is that Mr. Reyes and Mr. Wade were socializing at Mr. Reyes’ residence on Muffles street and while they were coming out of the resident and approaching the gate a male person of Hispanic descent approached them and fired several shots in their direction.”
Wade was hit on the buttocks and Reyes was hit on his right foot. They were rushed to the Northern Regional Hospital and later discharged. The shooting took place at the same location where twenty-five-year-old Samuel Castro was fatally shot on September thirtieth. In fact, at the time of Castro’s murder, reports surfaced that the gunman was actually looking for Reyes. Castro’s murder is believed to have been a case of mistaken identity- but also linked to the ongoing gang feud in Orange Walk Town. That’s because Reyes and Wade are known to be gang affiliates.
ASP Alejandro Cowo
“They are known to police and again as I mentioned in the last briefing it I have to do with the same shootings that have been happening previously in Orange Walk town among the same rival groups.Well it is a dispute that has been happening from the death of Triminio or even from before. That is the angle that we are looking at, that feud among the two gangs in Orange Walk.”
Hipolito Novelo
“Is it two separate gangs or two groups within that Back-A-Town Crips gang?”
ASP Alejandro Cowo
“It’s two different groups.”
David Diaz
The recent attempted murder of Wade and Reyes is believed to be retaliation for the shooting of twenty-two-year-old David Diaz, two days prior. Diaz was shot while at the corner of Staine’s Alley and Belize Corozal Road, the same general vicinity where these gang-related shootings have been occurring. Police presence in the area has increased.
ASP Alejandro Cowo
“There is a group of police officers deployed specifically in that street, on Muffles Street.”
Hipolito Novelo
“I would imagine that Orange Walk police know who these individuals are- who are gang affiliates, who are responsible for these shootings? Are police keeping a close eye on them?”
ASP Alejandro Cowo
“We know who are the suspects, however again we only can do as much as the victim themselves to cooperate with police.”
Reporting for News Five, I am Hipolito Novelo.
