Police Beef Up Presence in Lake-I amidst Flare-ups

Darien Banks

The shooting murder of ex-gang boss, Darien Banks on Monday, was reportedly provoked by a shooting on Sunday night, and the shooting of Kenrick Walton just moments after Banks’ murder have no doubt raised a level of anxiety among residents in the area. The shootings have also prompted the Belize Police Department to put measures in place in order to minimize retaliatory assaults between the feuding gangs – P.I.V. and Backaland Crips. Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams told the media today what they are doing to try and restore peace in Lake-I.

Chester Williams

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“We have put in place certain mechanisms. I have given certain instructions for certain things to be done. And yes, the L.I.U. (Leadership Intervention Unit) is on the ground along with the conflict officers to see what we can do to bring some resolution to the area. It is not going to be easy, I must say, because we do know how these gang situations go. There is always that tendency that they want to retaliate, and we must do what we can to avert such retaliation. But since the trio who were shot in the St Martin’s area, we saw the shooting death of Darien Banks again in the Martin’s area and we believe that that was a direct retaliation to what took place behind the Complex (building). We all know Darien Banks’ history. He was once a major player in the gang world. But of recent, he has not been a player in the gang world. He has – I believe he was an elder and was living in the St Martin’s area but we know his previous connections and we believe that he was gunned down because of that. And then we had the other shooting on Vernon Street – again we believe was retaliation – so we are on the ground doing what needs to be done. Let me say that at this time we’re not contemplating any state of emergency. We’ll see how we can resolve the issue through mediations and interventions. We know we have the multi-sectoral task force on the ground and we’ll try to use that as a first resort along with the police efforts to quell the problem. If in the longer run we see that the problem persists after mediation and intervention, then we’ll look at other resorts to ensure we bring some calm to the St Martin’s area.”