Shot on moving day; murdered over a year later at new home
edmund castillo
Last year January, Edmund Castillo moved from Baracat to Curl Thompson Street. On that occasion he was shot on the cheek and survived but that was not the case today for Castillo. He was in his yard when he was shot before the lunch hour; this time he died instantly. Carlton Augustine, who was with him, was shot on his rear and is expected to make a full recovery. News Five’s Jose Sanchez went back to Castillo’s home where the family is in disbelief.
Jose Sanchez, Reporting
A shooting after eleven this morning has shocked friends and neighbors of the Castillo family. Edmund Castillo and another man were shot as they sat below Castillo’s upper flat on Curl Thompson Street. According to neighbors Castillo was socializing while fixing a bicycle before he was shot dead. Justo Swaso borrowed his bicycle minutes before he was killed. He was just about to return the bicycle when he got the news of his old friend’s death.
Justo Swaso Sr., Friend of Murder Victim
“I just come out, he gone hail me. Mi son come hail me so I gone home. I tell ah I wah jump pan yoh bike and he tell me go through. When I di ride just now and I meet Larry and he tell me dehn just kill Cas. Ih shock me fi hear dat happen to my bretherin. He’s my bretherin.”
His son dug dirt from a flowers patch and covered the blood stained soil. The forty three year old man had moved to the house on January fourth 2009. His friends were in disbelief about the killing.
Albert Moody, Chairman of the Area
albert moody
“Mr. Castillo was a calm, cool individual. He was not a man of violence. I just got through building a house for him. I never knew him to be a man involved in any type of violence. He would take a few drinks with his friends and that kind of thing, but he was not a violent individual and I really can’t say much the senseless killing.”
Though he did not look for trouble, danger found him once before. On his moving day to this house on Curl Thompson Street last January, while he sat outside in a car with helpers a lone gunman blasted fifteen shots at the vehicle; the four were shot. Twenty year old Barney Cunningham Junior died from the gunshot wound. His mother joined the march for peace earlier this year.
Lois Nicholas, Mother of Late Barney Cunningham Jr. (March 22, 2010)
“I haven’t seen one Minister get up on the TV nor the Prime Minister get up and address the problem. So I don’t think so but I hope that it would send a message because it has to stop.”
But the violence did not stop. Castillo was shot to his cheek on his moving day. I sat down with him in his living room and he told me God would help to find the right path in this new environment.
Edmund Castillo, Now Deceased (January 5, 2009)
“I was living at Jane Usher boulevard and my house fell down, then I decided to rent a house at Barakat Street. When they completed this house now, I decided to move over this side. When I move over this side now then the perpetrator fired shots on us.”
Jose Sanchez
“Who was helping you to move in?”
Edmund Castillo
“The Cunningham family was helping me and Cunningham is my boss.”
Jose Sanchez
“Exactly what happened the night?”
Edmund Castillo
“The night I was just moving the things approximately nine o’clock. The last trip that we were bringing, when we done unload everything then I hear a bang. When I hear a bang and I thought it was dynamite and I just jump out of the vehicle and I gone underneath di vehicle and look for cover. I gone under the vehicle and I don’t look back; I don’t know who it is. And I just get frighten. Then afterwards I get out from under the vehicle and I ran. When I ran I ran home and I mi di bleed through my mouth.”
Jose Sanchez
“How will this affect your new home? Does this change your attitude towards being here?”
Edmund Castillo
“Kinda way but the good Lord will find a way for me.”
The good Lord took Castillo home. And by all accounts, Castillo was not a ghetto youth, but simply a man who lived in the ghetto. Reporting for News Five, Jose Sanchez.
No one has been arrested so far for Castillo’s death. For the first shooting incident last January, one man, Marlon Forman, was charged for shooting all four men and the murder of Barney Cunningham Junior.
There is no political will to address the crime and violence because it is one big ….. conspiracy. The plan is to have black people kill each other…ethnic cleansing through genocide so that the non afro Belizean immigrants can take over the old capital. Things will get worse before they get better; there will be vigilante justice because people do not trust the police and have no faith their elected officials. Belize is going down the gutter and nobody is saying ……. May the Almighty have mercy on us all this hurricane season.
what is becoming of my country the police needs to do more patrol and they all need to be carrying a weapon it seems to me that belize is now little Iraq.this got to stop where is the goverment.
“I haven’t seen one Minister get up on the TV nor the Prime Minister get up and address the problem” THAT’S WHAT WE ARE WAITING FOR BUT NOT PERDOMO HE’S LOST WITH HIS STATS THAT HE CAN’T EVEN EXPLAIN HIMSELF PLEASE BARROW STEP UP TO THE PLATE AND SAY SOMETHING.
Yes, We need to have at least one of my dum coleagues as I would refer them as to stand up and say to our people what they plan. If we could not control the crime situation when we had a more sustantial budget. How can we work on controlling crime now when the budget has been cut back.
We need a new minister instead of Perdomo his post needs to be changed and a new Police Commissioner is also required a young but willing to work. Also our prosecutors and Lawyers need to be warned as they are the ones who put the criminals back on our streets.
What did this person do to deserve this, That is the real question, isn’t it?
From what I gathered from the news report is seemed that the victim was targeted, he was shot once before and survived, not so lucky the second time around.
Maybe he had enemies, friends don’t always know everything.
It continues…..sad and scary, all this violence is just bad. Belize needs a no nonsense political party, that will put the safety of it citizens first. Rather than attracting tourists, Belize is attracting criminals. Combine with rejects from the US deported back due to criminal activities, has taken root back in Belize just to make matters worse. As huge as this problem is for Belizeans, there should news report daily from the government officials of their efforts to address and control. It may be time for the citizens of Belize to take the fight against crime and violence to the PM’s front door. It’s time for a real PM, and Police Department. It’s time for Quality Ministers in Belize to address the real issues.
“Rogue cops” go figure!
I hate to say it but, unless the elites and power-brokers of Belize are directly affected by all this mindless of violence, elected officials will continue to sit on their hands and do nothing. We can expect some lip service come election time, complete with the rounding up of the usual suspects, but given our turnstile justice system, the thugs will be out in no time to wreak havoc across the land.
Fed Up Blackman, you have a good point……the CONSPIRACY AGAINST BLACK PEOPLE,
that you speak of has been going on for the longest in the US…NOW IT HAS HIT THE SHORES OF OUR PRECIOUS BELIZE, and most other CARRIBEAN COUNTRIES…People can say and think what they will, but it’s true…THE SAD THING IS TO HAVE THIS KNOWLEDGE AND ACTUALLY SEE IT COMING TO PASS, SCARY TOO!!!
THE WEAPONS ARE AVAILABLE, TO ANYONE WHO HAS THE MONEY TO PURCHASE THEM, ….THE CUSTOM AND OTHER GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS ARE WORKING TOGETHER TO MAKE THIS “CONSPIRACY THEORY” COME TRUE, HERE IN THE US…NOW THE SAME THING IS HAPPENING IN BELIZE…THE SAD THING IS TO WATCH HOW THE BLACK MALES (WHO OBVIOUSLY LACK SELF-LOVE) BUY INTO THIS “THEORY”…MAKING IT EASY FOR THE GENOCIDE TO OCCUR.
whats happening? where are the guns comming from?. How can we carry friends to our sweet Belize.
A new term should be added to teh kriol dictionary. that is “GHETTO YOUTH” ghetto youth is a profession. you ask kid what your pa do? or a woman, what your man do? they say GHETTO YOUTH. YOU understand that means he hustles, ketch and kill. you no ask question when eh come home with money and expensive things.. .you just say he hustled good. so edmund castillo was a man living in teh ghetto, he wasn’t a ghetto youth.
When will you guys realize that all these crimes happening in Belize is a form of Business for Barrow and his affiliates.Barrow will never step to the plate to fight crime in Belize.You all fail to realize that this man is only waiting for his time to be up to move to the US.
The guns are coming from the US .
I hate to say this, but I have to say that Belizeans always sound so ignorant when they speak about racism in any context. I am a Belizean, and I have lived in the southern United States. THAT is real racism. That is the whole reason I left the states and came back to my country all those years ago. There, it did not matter how much money you had, as long as you were black, you were dirt, and any old piece of white trash was better than you. THAT sort of hatred does not exist in Belize, and I say this as a black Belizean who lives in Belize City. Don’t you realize that there are several rich/influential people who are black as well? You’re saying they are conspiring against themselves? What Belize is is a classist society. There are poor and rich people of every ethnicity in Belize; it’s just that Belizean society does not offer much social mobility (especially ith corrupt politicians). The only difference between the people we keep seeing on the news is that they are from an urban area. Belize City has always been inhabited by several black people, and naturally, in a capitalist system, there will be poor people. The difference is that a poor person in rural Orange Walk or Cayo etc. may be poor, yet they may have access to generations of knowledge, tools, and resources that may allow them to farm or take up some other trade so they can at least make a life for themselves. The difference is that in Belize City, the poor do not have these resources. This, combined with poverty, combined with a lack of education will definitely lead to crime. People kill where they live, and thus, several other black people around them become suffer, simply because they are victims of circumstance. For instance, a black person from Belize City will not travel to Toledo to kill another poor person, it is just a matter of proximity. Wake up my people. Racism is not the problem. Do not try to assess Belize’s problems from an American perspective. The societies are different. Stop trying to lay the blame on something abstract like racism. ALL of us know that REAL and SPECIFIC people can be blamed, and it’s up to us as a community to bring those people to justice.
How many more innocent law abiding citizens will die as a result of this senseless violence that is plaguing Belize city ? Something has gone terribly awry in this once peaceful nation. Drastic measures need to be implemented immediately to curb this madness. First the Death Penalty must be restored, then harsher penalties for gun possession . Mr Castillo was a peaceful man, such a shame he lost his life in such a tragic way. I hope the perpetrator is arrested and brought to justice. I send my condolences to the Family of Edmund Castillo in Punta Gorda Town.
BELIZE,BELIZE ,BELIZE.WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR PRECIOUS COUNTRY(JEWEL?). WHICH BELIZEAN LIVING ABROAD WILL BE EAGER TO RETURN FOR A VACATION IN OUR CITY? SO FAR THE PLAN THE POLICE,GOV,AND OTHER ORGANIZATION HAVE IS NOT, HEAR THIS ,NOT WORKING.WE NEED ANOTHER PLAN URGENTLY. TO OUR POLICE DEPARTMENT—-STEP UP SEARCH FOR WEAPONS ON THE STREET. MAY MY COUNTRYMAN REST IN PEACE.
i do kinds agree with y’all point but we are forgetting who vote these people into power…..its the belize people….now we as belizean want to complain about something or some one we put in power….
NOW ABOUT THE YOUTHS….I KEEP SAYING THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER AGAIN….THE CRIMINALS KNOW THEY COULD GET AWAY IT….AND I DO BELIEVE IN THE GENOCIDE THEORY??? YES!!!…. BUT WHAT IS IT THAT WE ARE GAINING FROM IT? IF IT’S INDEED GENOCIDE? THE PRIME MINISTER AINT GAINING NOTHING FROM IT..,..BELIZE DONT HAVE DIAMONDS OR ANYTHING TO KILL OUR FELLOW BELIZEAN FOR TO GAIN A PROFIT FROM THE KILLING? SO IS IT REALLY GENOCIDE OR THE YOUNGER ARE JUST PURE IGNORANT?
WHAT CAN I SAY??? NOT TO SOUND IGNORANT…BUT AM GLAD I SOLD MY FLAG FOR THE AMERICAN DREAM…. TO ME IT IS SO WORTH IT TO SAY AM AN AMERICAN BY NATURALIZATION…..PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN BY A PEICE OF PAPER NOT BY BIRTH BUT FROM A PIECE OF PAPER…..THANK GOD!!!! AND GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!!
2013, its time for change no more PUP nor them UDP those heartless mother****** . they care for us mein we all need to wake Belize, all them Sinisters care aout about is there life and they family they just want to get rid a we CREOLE from here an bring in the CENTRAL AMERICAN them so they can take advantage of those people. They cant do it to us so they they killing us out by ACTs of GENOCIDE so sad to know mein STRICLY INDEPENDENT cmae 2013, all the way
the guns are out there!! as we are seeing, most of the crimes committed wit firearms are being done by minors…on the April 26th newscast they reported guns being found on MINORS on 2 different incidents but my question is…i watched both reports but never heard of any of d minors being arraigned or being detained pending charges…my next thing is…why don’t d police reveal d identity of minors who are committing crimes…if they are so brave n cold hearted to rob,shoot, or even kill people then i believe d public has a right to know who these criminals are…we never know if we are in d vicinity of a cold hearted killer….
Conpiracy against black people????? lol…Elvis is still alive and the man never got to the moon
Yeah, let’s justify everything with the race factor…..as usual.
open your eyes and turn on your brain
” I myself feel scared to even visit Belize city,its like haunted city movies” LAND OF THE DEAD” scary no ! its NOT land of the FREE by the carib sea now …..mean while our politicians[UDP’S] have security and they got what they got they don’t care for the rest,we haven’t seen the honorable mr perdomo yet to give an intervue how to proceed with this virus killing our youths in our country ,they are dying like dogs,what are they waiting for? until one of the ministers gets killed? the people are waiting they the{UDP} gov’t have the power to do someting.
Self hate will either encourage you to kill yourself or kill others who look like you, too many people in Belize walk around resenting the wrong people. As I read the transcripts, I hear people who have become the frogs in the boiling pot of water choosing to remain conveniently clueless. If you live long enough, you’ll piss someone off, no one expects to die because they don’t play nice. If an idiot fires into a crowd& your card gets punched that day. You were unlucky. When more than one attempt has been made on your life, someone wants you dead & the reason may seem & probably are stupid but the bullets are real, stop BSing ourselves & even though we lack confidence in our Police Department they are all we have right now, try a novel approach, the truth. Until we start treating our elected officials like our employees, instead of royalty they have no reason to make changes for the good of all.
Nothing is funny ABI…..just because YOU don’t believe it, don’t make it untrue….SEEING IS BELEIVING….THE CONSPIRACY THEORY didn’t just come out of NOWHERE…..BEEN GOING ON FOR A LONG, LONG TIME…..THE SELF’HATERED IS EVIDENT, THE WEAPONS ARE MADE READILY AVAILABLE….YOU CAN GET A GUN FASTER THAN YOU CAN GET A JOB….AND THEY ARE COMMON IN MOST BLACK COMMUNITIES….
HOW ARE THEY ENTERING BELIZE, OR ANY OTHER COUNTRY?
WHO ARE THE PPL IN CHARGE OF WEAPONS??? THE GOVERNMENT!!!!
HOW ARE THEY SMUGGLED IN THE COUNTRY ILLEGALLY AND MAKE THEIR WAY ON THE STREETS??….AND IN WHOSE COMMUNITIES DO THEY FING THEIR WAY????
YOU OPEN UP YOUR EYES, NO ONE IS MAKING EXCUSES….SOMETIMES THE TRUTH IS AS BAD AS IT SOUNDS!!!!