Belize City Youths Charged for Gang-related Videos

Lyndell Parham

The state of emergency for feuding Belize City gangs was lifted last Thursday and over a hundred and forty-two presumed gang members are back on the streets of the Old Capital.  After thirty days of lockdown at the Belize Central Prison, one would assume that there would have been a lesson learned or an appreciation that they are walking on eggshells.  While there has been a reduction in gun violence since mid-March, it hasn’t stopped a group of young men from making violent threats to each other on social media.  Earlier this week, nineteen-year-old Jalen Babb and twenty-year-old Lyndell Parham, both members of rival gangs, were arrested and charged for a number of offences committed in respect of videos that were posted on Facebook.

Jalen Babb

While Parham and Babb were charged for producing a video recording to promote gang related activity, an additional charge was levied on Babb for failure to provide a reason for movement outside of a curfew.  Along with them were several other teenage minors, a fifteen and a seventeen-year-old, who have also been remanded to the Wagner’s Youth Facility on similar charges.