Glenford Matura: the latest Belize City resident to be murdered
Glenford Matura
Eighteen-year old Elmore Neal was killed on Saturday afternoon in broad daylight. His death is still mired in controversy because it involved a police officer. Neal was fatally shot a stone’s throw away from the home of his friend, twenty-nine year old Glenford Matura, who was targeted next. As many were heading to the workplace and school this morning, a volley of shots hit Matura, a sanitation worker, who was earning his keep on Euphrates Avenue. News Five’s Isani Cayetano followed this story today and spoke to family and friends of the two victims in the latest murder spree among the gangs.
Isani Cayetano, Reporting
Shortly after seven o’clock today Glenford Matura, an employee of Belize Maintenance Limited, was working in the area of Euphrates Avenue and King Street when several shots were fired at him. Badly injured, Matura ran through an alley off Euphrates Avenue. From there residents carried him back onto the street. A Good Samaritan who was about to take her grandchildren to school came to his aid.
Voice of: Area Resident
“Nobody seemed to want to take him to the hospital so I just actually put him in my vehicle and took him; drove him to the hospital.”
Isani Cayetano
“Was he conscious at the point where you were transporting him to the hospital?”
Voice of: Area Resident
Well he was breathing. He wasn’t saying anything at all, he was just breathing real hard you know. Up to when I took him to the hospital he was still breathing so I don’t know.
Isani Cayetano
“Were you able to realize where he was wounded on his body?”
Voice of: Area Resident
Not really, I saw because he was behind me on the backseat and so I saw blood on his head, over his body. I had my granddaughter put a tarpaulin in the backseat and that was full of blood so I don’t know. I left it at the hospital so I really don’t know exactly where he got shot but I did see a swelling over his eyes.
What is now known is that a bullet struck Glenford Matura in the head and at about eight-thirty this morning he succumbed to the injury. His common-law wife Lisa Tracey was at work when she received word of the shooting.
Lisa Tracey, Common-Law Wife of Deceased
Lisa Tracey
“I get di news like minutes to eight or after eight I get di news. My commadre come to me and tell me Lisa go home because something happen dah your yard. So I watch pan ah and seh ‘Mams di only person I left home yah dah mi my man when I come out dis morning because I come out before he. I come out dis morning before he and I noh like it.”
Isani Cayetano
“Do you know if he may have gotten into an incident with somebody else prior to this shooting?”
Lisa Tracey
“He noh give no trouble. He come home and fix fi he bike. Whosoever shot my man if dehn mi want my man bike dehn could ah mi tek dat. Dehn neva have to the ih life.”
The bicycle which Matura rode to work was reportedly missing from the scene of the shooting and according to his sister, the killing was a message being sent to the family by a rival group.
Glenford Matura’s Sister
“Dehn killed ah fi burn we because just last night dehn dodge Bobby. Just last night dehn dodge Bobby and dehn try done Bobby life. Dehn know my bredda dah di softest one and di coolest one and he noh harm nobody so dehn try hurt he fi hurt we. Dehn can’t get to who dehn di try get to so dehn get to my bredda cause dehn could ah mi come yah last night. dehn could ah gone dah Arlington Drive last night and dehn chose when he gone dah work dis morning.”
Elmore Neal’s sister said that both men were good friends of each other and that occasionally he would visit Matura at the family residence on Central American Boulevard. Matura was just over at Neal’s house last night paying respect to his fallen friend.
Elmore Neal’s Sister
“He mi just deh cross dah di house wid we and den he mi di rail up wid we, di tell we dat dah done three days, di man done rise and fi mek we put a bow pan di house and den he stand up deh and wait till we done put di first bow and den he gone home not knowing dat mi wah be di last time we si ah.”
The Matura family is pleading to authorities for justice.
Lisa Tracey
“Please give me justice. All I want dah justice. I want know who kill my man because you see my two daughter dehn noh even start to live dehn life. Watch my sons dehn. I feel it because dah my kids dehn. Dehn close to dehn pah more dan me. Dehn noh worry bout me, dehn worry bout dehn pah. Dehn noh worry bout me, dehn worry bout dehn pah. Fi dehn pah dah everything fi dehn.”
While the police department has claimed that Elmore Neal’s death was in self defense they are still investigating the murder of his friend, Glenford Matura. Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.
i feel so sorry for those kids. being parents to small children is hard enough. being a mother and father at the same time, i can only imagine her struggle. Poor young man..
Two little children are left without a father again, two little children will grow up without a chance.
too sad, really.
What is going on in Belize? We need to get this corrupted government out immediately. What is the Prime minister of that country doing? Crime is going out of spiral. Come on Belizean speak up for uno rights. Get this BS government out and don’t ever vote them back in Dean Barrow is the biggest criminal. I Know what I’m saying…..,.
It doesn’t matter which Government is in office…they are all corrupt, PUP and UDP….and the people of belize need to stop blaming government for every problem that goes on in the country. It’s just one big cycle, babies having babies in poverty…these young girls having kids very young with no education, no job, and no man…so what happens? and their kids grow up in poverty so the same cycle repeats over and over again…..We do need good strong leaders who are not in it to full their pockets..yes..but come on we must take responsibilty also
which ever party is in, crime will never stop! it’s not the government doing the killings, it is d belizeans! i dont ever think crimes will end, people watch too much damn t.v.! try to imitate what they see!
Looks like we’ll have to wait until a prominent Lawyer, Banker, Politician or Police Officer gets killed on the streets before this government will do anything about crime, apart from holding press conferences!
Nothing will get done while its poor killing poor and black killing black.
Oh, hang on – they are never on the streets anyway, as they don’t want to get their hands dirty!
First of all, statistics show, that whichever political party is in, the UDP or the PUP, the crime rate is always high. We as a people, have the tendency to be switching political parties to try and better the situation. Said Musa and the PUP was in office for two terms, and really didn’t bring a solution to the rising homicide rate in the country as well. The problem about the crime rate being so high, and the rate of unsolved crime is so high, has a big part to do with the lack of intelligence by the police department. They don’t have the education, nor the resources to effectively solve these crimes. The lack of education in the sense that these homicide detectives in Belize don’t go to school and train for things of this manner, study forensics, and things of this sort. Belize is a country that is being run by older heads, in politics and in the police department. We as a country need to start spending our financial resources on technology and education, and move our country forward. We are living in a highly technological world, and Belize is far behind. We need solutions. God Bless Belize, and my heart goes out to each and every mother who had to shed tears for a child because of this senseless wave of violence that has handicapped our beautiful nation.
belize is really getting out of hand,please main,stop the killing. me myself am a belizean,I live in OW but I am truely afraid 2 go at the city,too much violence. they kill U for nothing. we need to pray for our country. only God can fix this.
I agree we can’t continue to use the Belizean government as a scapegoat, Belizeans from all race and creed needs to step up and speak out to stop this unnecessary madness. There is way too many lives being cut short for no apparent reason whatsoever. And, the most disturbing thing is that majority of crimes in Belize city is black on black crime. What’s wrong with us as a people? we shoot our brother over a simple feud, we degrade our women, and lack any form of respect for one another. Belize city needs a reality check, the police system needs to be filtered( get these dirty police out), and the present administration needs to generate jobs, because it seems now that people are resorting to shooting others out of plain boredom.
we need peace.
Belize I am praying for you. With prayer all things are possible
Hey. Thanks for this post. I cruise alot of blogs just to see what I can find. I liked this write up you did and was just wondering if you have a subscriber page so I can link to it so I can read it at a later date? I did not see one – am I just overlooking it?
Jack
Right on Blogger Mouth!!!! Very true!!!!!!!