Construction Worker Stabbed to Death in Belize City
William Rubio
There was a murder in the city on Wednesday night. A man from Saint Matthews Village was murdered in around seven o’clock. A single stab ended the life of William Rubio, a construction worker and father of nine. The deadly incident happened in front of a pharmacy near the Pound Yard Bridge. The details of what transpired between the two men are still unclear, but what we know tonight is that one man is dead and another is in police custody. Here’s the story with News Five’s Andrea Polanco.
Voice of: Onlooker
“Just now it happened. Just, just now bally stab ah. Right yah just now. The bwai the run.”
Andrea Polanco, Reporting
Those voices are onlookers reacting to the stabbing of forty-one-year-old William Rubio, who was stretched out on the ground bleeding profusely from the neck. It happened at the corner of Cemetery Road and West Collet Canal in the Pound Yard Bridge area around ten to seven on Wednesday night.
Eyewitnesses in the area say that Rubio got into an argument with another man who pulled out a knife and cut his neck. They say the man ran from the scene – but minutes after cops in the area captured him somewhere off Logwood Street, to the back of the gas station. A man on the scene recounts what he saw when the alleged perpetrator, forty-nine-year-old Shedrock White, was detained.
William Rubio
Voice of: Onlooker
“I neva know if the man dead or what because I see the police the pick up the man and when I look so it’s because they di bring wah bally from through this street yah – this dah Logwood Street – between the gas station. They bring ah with handcuffs, right because the guy done drop on the floor deh and then he run through suh and they ketch ah through deh and bring ah back and while I deh deh the wait I si deh bring the next guy looks like he done dead, I nuh sure and they put he inna the back ah wah pick up and they put the next one inna the back ah wah pick up and they ker ah down the kennel side look like they gwein dah the next station with him.”
…and when I arrived on the scene shortly after seven, police had already cordoned off the area – and officers were processing the scene; there we saw the large puddle of blood and a footwear – all that’s left on the scene after the knife attack. Police had had already transported Rubio to the hospital in this police truck – but minutes later we were informed that he had passed away at the hospital. Onlookers on Tuesday night had different accounts about what led to this fatal stabbing – some reported that they two men were socializing and got into an argument; others in the area say that while the two men knew each other – they were not hanging out together – but that they got into a heated exchange before White allegedly pulled out the knife. Tonight Rubio’s family doesn’t know why he was killed.
Voice of: Thelma Bustamante, Sister of the Deceased
“When we got the message that he is dead, we asked dah who and they say that they ketch the person and then I found out today that it’s a fisherman. I think deh mi di argue, but what about, I don’t know. And then that dah when I think the man haul the knife and do what he had to do.”
Andrea Polanco
“And so William, he nuh really got enemies like that?”
Voice of: Thelma Bustamante
“Well, I wah be honest with you. Her drinks and he argues with people and things like that. I nuh wah say that he nuh give trouble and thing. When he drink he dah – you know like go around with his friends and drink and argue, things like that.”
Andrea Polanco
“How does your family pick up the pieces and heal from something like this, Ms. Thelma?”
Voice of: Thelma Bustamante
“Well, it is very hard because he left nine kids, four small one and we just have to be strong for each other. This dah nuh something we mi di expect. I nuh know what happened but we just want justice for him because if he ketch inna fight with the man – I could understand if maybe he had an object or something, then the man could ah mi haul his knife but if they only the argue or ketch inna fight, I nuh see the reason why the man supposed to mi haul the knife and cut ah like that. I saw him by the hospital and whole ah he bloody bloody. I guess he bleed out on the ground deh.”
Rubio is described as a hard worker who lived in St. Matthews Village and would travel back and forth to the city for work. Taxi operators in the area say that Rubio was a well-known face because he would always hang out in the Constitution Park. It is believed that the men knew each other.
Voice of: John Rubio, Brother of the Deceased
“He worked very hard but he drinks a lot. He always comes up every day to work.”
Andrea Polanco
“So, the last time you saw him was when?”
Voice of: John Rubio
“The last time I saw him was a week ago but everybody told me that he would always be by Pound Yard Bridge there walking, coming from work always with his bag.”
Andrea Polanco
“Does he hang out any at all around that park, anywhere out there?”
Voice of: John Rubio
“That’s where he usually be with the guys them drinking.”
Andrea Polanco
“Do you know if they knew each other?”
Voice of: John Rubio
“I know most that he hang out with drink everyday with him.”
Andrea Polanco
“So, they knew each other well, so to speak?”
Voice of: John Rubio
“They know each other, yeah.”
Reporting for News Five, I’m Andrea Polanco.
