Mother Rescues Baby; Child’s Father Shot
The mother of a one-year-old child is tonight grateful that her child’s father is alive, and her baby is unharmed after a gunman targeted their family home on Victoria Street. Today, News Five spoke to Shandy Vernon who was socializing with a group of relatives on Friday night when the shooter approached the home and began firing indiscriminately. Vernon described the scene she witnessed and how she ran to the aid of her toddler who fell from the arms of a wounded father. News Five’s Paul Lopez files that report.
Voice of: Shandy Vernon, Girlfriend of Shooting Victim
“I sih somebody mih the come, but I neva know dah gunshot deh mih the come shoot up and thing. So when I realy get the sense that dah shoot deh mih the come shoot dah because I sih the person just raise up the gun and I run, knowing my mom still mih the eena the chair. When I run and thing my baby mih the eena my bway hand. From my baby drop and all. So I had to turn around, pick up my baby and run eena the house.”
Paul Lopez, Reporting
Vernon says the child’s father was wounded and unable to assist the child. She decided to abandon her cover to rescue her child, while gunshots were still being fired.
Paul Lopez
“Are you saying you risked your life, while shots were being fired to go and fetch your child?”
Voice of: Shandy Vernon
“Yeah, I get back my baby when the shooting still mih the happen.”
Paul Lopez
“What was going through your mind?”
Voice of: Shandy Vernon
“For me, I still mih eena shock, cause like weh I seh, I neva mih the expect it. Dah something weh happen unexpected and it happen so fast.”
The gun man then fled scene, leaving behind screams and wailing from inside the yard. Three persons were injured in the shooting. Jeffrey Pott, Dereck Jones, and Rosa Garbutt. We spoke to Jones’ mother, Lydia Estrada.
Voice of: Lydia Estrada, Mother of Shooting Victim
“Really, we nuh know nothing. We really eena shock. We really would want to know the answer right about now. We nuh know why and how and what. We nuh really know weh cause this?”
Paul Lopez
“Was your son, nephew and any one of the victims involved in any sort of activities that led up to this shooting?”
Voice of: Lydia Estrada
“Nuh weh I know of. I nuh know that deh eena nothing.”
Paul Lopez
“Describe your son and nephew, the type of persons they are.”
Voice of: Lydia Estrada
“Well, deh dah type of person weh like drink. Deh like tek deh lee drink. Deh have deh fun. Deh quarrel with one another. Then deh guh een and the nect morning deh mek up back. That dah weh I know about.”
Paul Lopez
“Your boyfriend, in conversation with him, did he ever mention having any sort of beef?”
Voice of: Shandy Vernon
“No, he never tell me nothing bout no beef or nothing like that. I nuh know nothing bout deh kind a thing deh.”
Unlike Jones and Pott, Estrada is not a resident of Belize City.
Voice of: Shandy Vernon
“My mah dah nuh from yah, my mah dah from Placencia. She just come down the same Friday come spend like a day or two days with my baby deh cause she usually come come hail we and guh back. This dah one time she get caught up eena something.”
Jones has since been released from the hospital. While Estrada and Pott both remain hospitalized and stable. Reporting for News Five, I am, Paul Lopez.
