Who Killed Iwin Palma in Ladyville?
Iwin Palma
Meanwhile, in Ladyville, a father of two very young children was shot dead in the Milpa Extension area in the wee early hours of Saturday morning. Residents in the area reported hearing three gunshots – something that is nothing strange in that community, but when Police responded, they found out that someone had been murdered. News Five’s Marion Ali spoke with the victim’s friend who had just dropped him home minutes before, as well as his father, who found out the next morning that his son had been killed. Here’s her report.
Marion Ali, Reporting
Voice of: Friend
Voice of: Friend
“When I woke up in the morning and saw the flash news of an unidentified man found in the area and when I read the description of the clothes, I was almost certain that it was my friend because that’s the last clothes I saw him in right before we dropped him home.”
A friend of Iwin Palma told News Five that he and others had just dropped Palma and his bicycle at his house in a vehicle. Then in a space of just a few minutes, he heard from another friend that shots had been fired in the area where they had just left.
Voice of: Friend
“Five minutes after going in my house, I received a text from my friend and he told me that shots were being fired in the Mila area but it’s common for shot to be firing in that direction, you know, so I just thought that some idle young men were shooting, so I never paid it no attention to it.”
The time was just a few minutes after midnight. The friend claims that after they dropped off Palma, he simply got on his bicycle and started to head back out of the area. He had only reached around the lane when he came under fire. The father of a five-year-old and a two-and-a-half-month-old was last working at a call centre only two weeks ago, but stopped. Then he filed a complaint with the police against someone who had reportedly shot at him.
A.S.P. Fitzroy Yearwood
A.S.P. Fitzroy Yearwood, Communications Director, Belize Police Department
“On the sixteenth of June, Mr Palma made a complaint to the police. The full contents of that complaint I will not get into, but I know that we made an arrest in reference to that complaint. And we at the Police Department believe that the person arrested for that incident, that the two incidents are probably related.”
(Voice of: Friend)
“The police had told me the morning after the incident, they told me that if I was aware that Mr Iwin was shot at the week before. I told them no, I was really unaware because the night we were hanging out he didn’t bring up any of that.”
Palma’s father, Ricardo Palma was not at home when his son was killed, and only found out the next morning when he returned from an errand. He said that their last conversation with him was to start working today so he could help him out at home.
Ricardo Palma
Voice of: Ricardo Palma, Father of deceased
“Right now I guess he was to get a job at M&Ms today but he didn’t make it and that’s the saddest part of the story. The last conversation me and he had ih tell mi, “Dad, I know wi dig oh tru crisis and I want to – just hold tight. As soon as I get mi lee job” ih seh, “ah wa handle yoh mek wi try finish the lee bathroom and ting” and ih neva did finish this bathroom ya. And then ih seh “ah wa help yoh finish the varanda, Da.”
This loss compounds the pain for Palma’s friend because he said they were just talking about another of their friends, Jordan Bradley, who was also gunned down last week.
Voice of: Friend
“It’s rough because on the said night that he was killed, we were mourning the death of a friend that died two days prior. For him to be killed just like that, reminding us to, you know, keep safe and him just dying like that really hurt everyone.”
Police have not yet made any arrests in connection with this murder.
Marion Ali For News Five
