Primary school students traumatized by nearby shooting
On Thursday we showed you riveting images caught by our cameraman George Tillett of a shooting underway at North Front Street. Police have not yet levied any charges against the suspect they nabbed seconds after he allegedly robbed Accents Store and a customer paying an electricity bill. The seventeen year old was shot by the customer, who carried a licensed firearm as well as by police who were in hot pursuit about a hundred feet behind. The second suspect remains at large, also with a bullet wound as he accidentally shot himself when he pulled his weapon to commit the robbery. But while he continues to run from authorities, one issue which parents of children have had to cope with overnight is the trauma the children experienced after witnessing the ghastly shooting first hand from Holy Redeemer Primary School. Today News Five’s Marion Ali returned to the scene and found out what parents were doing to help their traumatised children.
Marion Ali Reporting
Parents of students who witnessed Thursday morning’s shooting of an alleged robber had to dig deep into their mastery of parenthood to deal with the trauma their children are experiencing.
Marion Ali
How are they doing?
Emerson Sanker, Concerned Parent
“Dehn arite now but yesterday dehn kinda…dehn seh wah gunshot gone on, soh yesterday was different.”
Gilda Smith, Concerned Grandparent
“The teacher had them in the class and the door was closed, so when I picked up my grandson I received him from his teacher.”
Marion Ali
Did he tell you about it?
Gilda Smith
“Not at first but when he got home, he was still traumatised about it.”
But one parent whose child coped with the shooting a little better said she has been coaching him from long ago to prepare for events just like yesterday.
Ethel Mahler, concerned parent
“We prepare him for that and he live round a neighbour that – so he – all we told him that if anything would happen, drop on the ground and he questioned why and I tell him because bullets usually yoh know, but it’s very awful.”
Marion Ali
So he wasn’t traumatized?
Ethel Mahler
“No, no. He said he was in the back of the yard but he said he ran in the classroom and went under a desk.”
Some of the children to us they hid in their classrooms. Some were so frightened that they cried throughout the day. It appears their fears lasted longer than the B.E.L. collection agent located inside Accents Store and when we passed by today, we discovered a sign notifying that the B.E.L. office was permanently closed. Accents was also closed, as it has been since the incident. Police recovered the money stolen from the store and from the customer who was jacked inside the store. The youth that was shot will be charged as soon as he is released from the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital where he remains under police guard. Marion Ali for News Five.
The primary school children will need some time to recover from this incident. They are still scared, I am sure. Let’s just hope that they’d become stronger individuals!
its so sad to hear about all the shooting and killing going on in our little Belize
It’s so sad to read about these things happening in Belize and witness the crime rate incresing. It’s making me think again about planning to moving back home.
EVERYONE is responsible, starting with the ADULTS!!!! What are we teaching or not teaching out children at home, for them to grow into COLD_BLOODED KILLERS?? What is the society doing to prevent this??? I know the day will come when we here about the need to build more JAILS….the need for SECURITY GUARDS and POLICE in the schools…then finally the METAL DETECTORS at the school entrance doors, to pick up weapons the students might be carrying. What’s also sad, is that I know Belize does not have the financial backing to have this kind of security in schools.
Belize is moving up fast in keeping up with the “Modern Day Madness” that has INFECTED the US, and other countries that FOLLOW THEIR WAYS and SANCTIONS that DICTATE how countries should be governed. It’s amazing how they (the US) come up with these ideas that don’t even work in their own country, yet they egnore that fact and try to force others to do the same!!! And the more foreign countries accept and follow these ways, the more corrupt the become. EVERY FIBER OF SOCIETY BEGINS TO BREAK DOWN, THE FAMLIY, THE COMMUNITY, THE GOVERNMENT!!!
In the long run, is the price we have to pay “TO KEEP UP WITH MODERN DAY SOCIETY” all worth it…????!!!!
I keep Belize in my prayers and hope we recover from this, because Belize is still very dear and special in my heart…and I know there are many people in there and abroad who feel the same way.
I am pleading to all it’s citizens from the parents to the lawmakers, take control, before it controls YOU!!!
This is the reason why corporal punishment needs to stay in our schools.
This is the reason why corporal punishment should remain in our schools.
Corporal punishment should begin at home, with this in mind we as parents expect our teachers to mold, discipline and chactize our children. Teachers are the ones who will just do the polishing on our children in regards to discipline, education and character. When our children do wrong in school and we are called upon, most of the times we try to blame our teachers for our children wrongdoings. My mom always says it takes an army to grow our children. Let us all as parents give our children love and discipline and stop filling them up with material things, this crime is the outcome of giving them material things and neglect giving them the most important thing LOVE.
wether corporal punishment stays or go nothing will change, cause all that is happening is all about parenting, these young people watch too much TV and what they see they put it into practice, over this weekend I was in corozal for the band feast and I was so proud of our young people I felt my heart full of joy for them, and I prayed that they never fall in the wrong crowd, so I believe we cannot blame the government, the police, it is the PARENTS, I was raise in a poor family, but we were taught to respect niegbours, older people,teachers and to work for what we needed not for what we wanted, and I am grateful to God for my parents who instill good values in us.But them human rights came in and everything change, we need to go back to the word of God for guidance, it is not too late.
Congratulations to the customer that shot the robber and hopefully all Belizean learn to stand up for themselves and take action in their own hands because we have a bunch of coward leaders that do not want to stand up for our people, and cannot set a proper example. As for the police officer that body should have been covered immediately being the location that the incident happend. A child could live with that a life time. As for Dean Barrow instead of making an ass of him self in the house or setting a proper example for the youths to look up to as a leader he should take that same negative effort to condem crime and work towards dealing with crime in beautiful Belize. Congratulations to Said Musa for not coming down to Barrows level. Well done
Elgin Martinez, what does corporal punishment have to do with criminals traumatizing our children that were in school?. This act of violence has to do with stupid thugs terrorizing our country, who don’t give a damn if school children and innocent citizens are around when they so selfishly commit their acts my friend. Since you’re on the subject of corporal punishment, and this will make you feel good, maybe what I have to say to you and our citizens will be a lesson to be taken into consideration. Our government or Minister of Education has to understand that corporal punishment does not always work. Some of us were born with dyslexia and autism. I’m not very sure if our Minister of Education or our teachers has any training about these disease or how to deal with students that are suffering form these disease. This being said, if one does not know how to deal with this situation, you can only do more harm than good to the people that are suffering from these disease. Let me tell you my friend, that scars be it emotional, physical, internal and mental are all painful. Just imagine what corporal punishment can do to children that were born with these disease. If you’re implying that the thugs were not disciplined via corporal punishment why they’re committing these crimes, then you need to get your head checked. It’s all about easy money and they don’t give a damn who they kill for it, even if it mean killing their own mom. They are all ruthless jacka–es that probably never enetered a class room or they’re on drugs and acting bloody crazy. We as Belizeans need to teach our kids how to keep their hands to themselves and our Teachers need to enforce the same in their class rooms, “You practice weh you preach”. If we can all do this, it might avoid abusive relationships in the future and hopefully we can get back our country with respect as it was in the past. There are other means of discipline in our schools such as, The demerit system, detention, suspension, behavioral probation, and finally expulsion. We also have to understand that, we are not all academically incline and it is up to our Teachers to recognize any short comings of their students to recommend other forms of trainig, including Vocational training for older students. This is where the Ministry of Education is responsible to provide vocational training for every Districts to prepare our children for future employment. I hope I have been of help to share this with my fellow Belizeans, but in my heart, our government need to find a way to eradicate these thugs and give us back our country, instead of creating more hardship for us the POOR through higher taxation and otherwise.