Man Shot Dead in Belize City

Albert Valentine

We begin tonight’s newscast with the first reported murder for the month of December. The incident happened this morning in the Collet area of Belize City around seven-thirty. Twenty-nine-year-old Albert Valentine was walking on Elston Kerr Street and as he reached the corner with Iguana Street, a gunman shot him. He did not live for long and was pronounced dead at the K.H.M.H. News Five’s Marion Ali reports.

Marion Ali, Reporting

Twenty-nine-year-old Albert Valentine had just left a shop on Antelope Street Extension, but minutes later, a gunman approached him and shot him. He ran on Iguana Street Extension and collapsed at this corner. A resident told us what she heard.

Voice of: Neighbour

Voice of: Neighbour

“I mi deh outside and I hear the two shots. First I mi think da pop shot, but the way how ih mi sound, I say da gunshot. So I run out, and when I see people run to the corner, well, I run to because then I know my son always go down that side. And when we get down there, we see the boy down in the drain. And he still mi di breathe, so we holler and tell them, get ah out, get ah out, and somebody say call the police.”

The Police say that Valentine was walking alone on Elston Kerr Street from the direction of Racoon Street towards Iguana Street Extension when he was approached by two persons who accosted him. One pulled out a gun and shot him. While the police have not yet arrested anyone, they are depending on surveillance cameras in the area to help them solve this latest homicide. The neighbour told us she feels that the killer’s anger put innocent people’s safety at risk this morning.

Voice of: Neighbour

“My grandchildren, my grandson was just about to get on his cycle to go to work, you know. My daughter was ready to go to work. Everybody getting out, school children walking. It was real scary.”

Marion Ali

“So the police booth that they have right around the corner, you don’t feel it’s effective?”

Voice of: Neighbour

“Well, maybe it’s effective you know, on that street, but on this street, no, because it’s a good distance away from here anyway. It’s good to have them close by anyway, but to say that they affect this area where I live, I would say no.”

Albert Valentine is said to be originally from Punta Gorda and had just moved to Belize City a while back. Marion Ali for News Five.