Floyd Montero is Gunned Down in Camalote

Floyd Montero

The murder of a young man in Camalote Village at the start of the weekend has plunged a family into deep sadness once again, as they were still grieving the loss of another loved one to gun violence.  It happened just before midnight, when Floyd Montero was leaving a residence where he was socializing with a few friends.  He was walking down an unlit dirt road when he was blindsided in a torrent of bullets.  The twenty-three-year-old fell into some nearby bushes where he took his last breath.  News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports.

Isani Cayetano, Reporting

Twenty-three-year-old Floyd Montero met his end on Friday night in Camalote Village when he was waylaid by an unknown assailant.  Residents say that they heard the report of a single gunshot and initially thought that the blast in the distance was a motorist experiencing a blowout.  Little did they know that someone had pounced on Montero with lethal precision.

Voice of: Aunt of Deceased

Voice of: Aunt of Deceased

“I mi deh home and my daughter got wahn call from a friend pan Facebook and dehn seh, “Gyal, dehn just shoot your cousin.”  And dehn my daughter gaan wake me and seh dehn shoot Floydie and dehn seh ih dead, and I seh, “What?”  And Shakera neva mi di get pan phone and we di try, we di try deh pan di phone fi sih if anybody wahn post up anything bout it and nobody neva post up ‘til mussi eena di morning.”

Shakera Francis is Montero’s elder sibling.  She did not speak with News Five.  By Saturday morning, however, it had been confirmed that the young man had been shot and killed while leaving a friend’s house where he was hanging out with several other individuals.  Communications Director, Fitzroy Yearwood, Belize Police Department:

Fitzroy Yearwood

ASP Fitzroy Yearwood, Communications Director, B.P.D.

“Police responded on the seventeenth of March, sometime around 11:30 p.m., to a feeder road in Camalote Village where they found the lifeless body of Mr. Floyd Montero, twenty-three years old.  Initial investigation revealed that Mr. Montero was around in the village socializing earlier that evening and he was last seen at a social event and was approached from behind by a dark-complexioned male person who fired several shots in his direction.”

According to Montero’s grief-stricken aunt, he had been living with a woman, a family friend whom he took as a second mother.

Voice of: Aunt of Deceased

“My lee nephew mi di stay with wahn lady weh da like, di lady raise dehn like dehn mom because di lady know dehn da di village and he mi di live da di house and apparently di lady seh she neva know dat Floydie leff di house.  She seh dat Floydie tell ahn, “Right now ah di cohn, Mams, a just gwein go buy da di Chiney.”  And she seh Floydie gaan and she seh Floydie woulda come back and she mi di wait fi Floyd and Floydie neva did come back and da when my niece call she and tell ahn, “Miss Latoya, dehn shoot Floydie.”  And she di bawl up because she seh Floydie neva did leff di place that long.”

An investigation into the murder of Floyd Montero is underway, despite the police department being no closer to ascertaining a motive for his shooting death.

Fitzroy Yearwood

“His body was transported to the Western Regional Hospital where he was pronounced dead.”

Marion Ali

“What would police say was the motive of this one?”

Fitzroy Yearwood

“We haven’t established true motive as yet, so as soon as I know, you will know.”

The family is also stumped, uncertain whether their loved one had any known enemies who would want to exact this kind of violence on him.

Voice of: Aunt of Deceased

“We noh know if he mi had enemies weh mi wahn hurt he or stuff like that.”

Isani Cayetano

“Now you guys are preparing for his funeral, correct?”

Aunt of Deceased

“Yeah, we are preparing to lay him to rest and we just wahn mek dehn find justice because I believe, I personally believe that di person weh kill my lee nephew, ih had to be somebody weh he knew and ih haftu be somebody weh ih does talk to because we get talking that da somebody weh ih mi di socialize round da night because nobody cyant go eena da yard deh like that.”

Isani Cayetano for News Five.