Man Stabbed During Fight in Belmopan
Elmer Canto
A man was stabbed to death during a fight in Belmopan on Sunday. Reports are that the victim, Elmer Canto, was embroiled in a fight with a woman at a barbecue on Sunday and that a third person intervened to break up the fight. But Elmer then reportedly picked up a rock to throw at the pair. At that point, however, the man who parted the fight pulled out a knife and fatally stabbed Canto. News Five’s Marion Ali went to Belmopan for the details. Here’s that report.
Marion Ali, Reporting
This makeshift cross on St. Matthew’s Street in Belmopan was where forty-two-year-old Elmer Canto was fatally wounded during an argument with a woman on Sunday. Police say they have apprehended the suspect and recovered the weapon they believe was used in the stabbing.
Hilberto Romero
A.C.P Hilberto Romero, Regional Commander, Eastern Division
“Around 1: 04 p.m., Belmopan Police responded to a stabbing incident at St. Matthew Street, where upon the arrival they found the motionless body of Elmer Canto, forty-two years with a stab wound injury. Information receives that Elmer Canto was involved in a fight with Juan Manuel Sandoval who inflicted the fatal stab wound injury to him. And Elmer Canto was taken to the Western Regional Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Police quickly apprehended Manuel Sandoval and recovered the knife used in the stabbing. He’s presently detained, pending charges.”
Eastern Division Head, Assistant Commissioner, Hilberto Romero informed that indeed the tragic incident arose out of an argument that the deceased had with a woman.
A.C.P Hilberto Romero
“The deceased was having a dispute with one Monica Flores and this person Manuel intervened and that is what led to the stabbing.”
Reporter
“Is this person, Manuel known to police?”
A.C.P Hilberto Romero
“No, he’s not known. No.”
Canto’s brother, Jeromie Canto, told News Five that he never got to see Elmer on Sunday because when he got up, Elmer had already left the house. He was summoned a couple hours later to a creek to identify whether the victim who had been fatally stabbed was indeed his brother.
Jeromie Canto
Jeromie Canto, Brother of deceased
“Suddenly they just come and inform me that someone was at the creek and it looks like it’s him, so I went to see if- to confirm and see if it’s him. So when I reached, it was my brother. I’m really sad about what happened. The family right now is very, very, very sad, everyone, especially their children. And we – I can’t express myself what I’m feeling right now. I feel that they just remove his life just like that. I’m asking for the police as well to do a good investigation.”
While the family plans to lay Elmer Canto to rest, they’re trying to make sense out of what has happened. Jeromie shared with us that Elmer had plans of building his own house.
Jeromie Canto
“He was planning to try to finish a little house and move in from, from where he was staying here, to have his little house. So he told me that he will try. He will try work a little harder to try finish a little house for him, but sadly he didn’t complete the mission.”
Elmer Canto was the father to two daughters, the younger one being fourteen years old. Marion Ali for News 5.
