Shootings follow Belize City concert

In crime news it was a busy weekend for police in Belize City. Early Sunday morning, shots rang out on the southside, leaving four men and one young woman injured in three separate incidents. According to police, all the victims had just left the Punta Rebels concert at the City Centre and were walking home, when they were shot. The first incident took place about four blocks away from the City Centre. Reports are that twenty year old Alton Usher was making his way along Central American Boulevard around three fifteen. As he approached Malic’s Store, at the corner of Vernon Street and the boulevard, he was shot in the left upper part of his back. At the same time, twenty year old Newton Westby and a friend, Catherine Casimiro, were walking together, also along the boulevard, when Westby was shot in his upper right leg, while Casimiro received gunshot wounds to her left kneecap. Fifteen minutes later, the violence shifted to Mahogany Street. When nineteen year old Andy Williams and a friend, eighteen year old William Dawson were about to cross into Partridge Street, gunshots rang out. Williams received injuries to his left hand and back of his leg, while Dawson was shot in his left upper thigh. All five persons were treated at the K.H.M.H. and have since been released. Police say while at this time they do not have a motive for the shootings, they suspect it was the result of gang confrontation. According to the police they have detained two people: twenty-four year old Glenroy Wagner and twenty-six year old Javier Saragoza and are still looking for others whom they believe can assist them in their investigation.