Wrong place, wrong time scenario turns fatal for Burton Young
burton young
Two Belize City residents were shot last night during a hail of gunfire on Orange Street. It happened before the end of last night’s newscast. Both men were quickly rushed to the hospital but only one survived. By all accounts, the victim who passed away was an innocent bystander. News Five’s Jose Sanchez was on the scene and has this report.
Jose Sanchez, Reporting
At about seven on Wednesday night, several shots rang out on Orange Street. By the time the last slug hit the ground, one man received superficial wounds and the other, thirty one year old Burton Young, was dead. It happened while Young was purchasing panades at K’s Fast Food.
Sgt. Fitzroy Yearwood, Police Press Officer
“A lone gunman on bicycle approached them. This gunman is of dark complexion, Creole descent. He got off the bike and fired several shots in the direction of the deceased.”
Jose Sanchez
“About how many shots more or less?”
Sgt. Fitzroy Yearwood
“I cannot ascertain that at this time but I know that it was several shots. One apparently caught him in the left side of the chest, and the other person Clifford Morison got shot in the left leg.”
Jose Sanchez
“So far has the investigation revealed that any of the men were targeted?”
Sgt. Fitzroy Yearwood
“Well, we cannot say that as yet. It’s an early investigation, but one thing I can tell you investigators are looking for one person in particular that they believe can shed some light in this recent murder.”
A black bow is hung outside Teddy’s Music and DVD’s on King Street where the murder victim worked for the past three and a half years. Teddy says he was more than an employee, he was a brother.
Teddy Grant, Proprietor, Teddys Music and DVD’s
“He dah wah person, he run joke wid everybody. He know everybody pan dis street weh walk. Everybody know he when dehn come buy yah and ih rough mein, ih just rough.”
Jose Sanchez
“I know your coworkers know him for the duration he was working here, but you knew him a lot longer than that.”
Teddy Grant
“Definitely; we went to school together. We went to Salvation Army together, we played marble together and we used to thief marble gains one another. I mean dah wah whole history behind we. I noh only know him as a worker, he dah like wah bredda to me. We been through ups, we been down and ih just rough, things just happen you know.”
Jose Sanchez
“How do you propose your business to move on? I mean this is like family now to everybody here.”
Teddy Grant
“Well, like how I she we have to tek it one day at a time and we just have to be strong and push along. You know dis business dah part ah he too yoh know, dis dah part ah fi he life and me being di owner, as ih friend as almost like ih bredda and thing, have to just picture ah everyday inna di shop. Ih hurt when I come eena di shop cause he dah di first one morning boss, morning boss. Ih just rough, ih just rough.”
It is especially rough for his family, Young leaves behind a wife and two children. His co-workers say he was a great guy.
Jose Sanchez
“Have you heard from his wife and his family? How are they handling the news?”
Voice of: Vannie Dominguez, Friend of Murder Victim
“Well, she is very devastated right now. She tell me she has to be strong for her two daughters but it will be very hard.”
Jose Sanchez
“And you other co-workers? They seem to like him. I just saw one of them on the floor just now?”
Voice of: Vannie Dominguez
“Yeah, Young was a cool person. He used to talk with everybody. He doesn’t have problems with anyone.”
Joshua Bermudez, Friend of Murder Victim
“He dah mi wah cool person, ih work good and he always mek we laugh dah work. Even sometimes when I come dah work and I vex or something he always do something fi mek I feel good. He dah wha nice person and he neva deserve fi get weh ih mi get. He just mi deh dah di wrong place at di wrong time.”
Jose Sanchez
“Can you tell me the last things that you shared with him yesterday?”
Joshua Bermudez
“Well, me and he mi di joke round as usual even though di boss get vex sometimes when we play inna ih shop. But dah so we play. We always di play round and di run joke yoh know fi mek we feel good dah di place. But ih neva deserve fi get weh ih mi get.”
Jose Sanchez
“Not a bad bone in his body.”
Joshua Bermudez
“He dah mi wah good person. He have ih two kids, ih wife you know.”
Teddy Grant
“The gentleman was just with me about six-thirty and he left. Ih she ih hungry and he want go buy food. We she no mein we noh hungry again, lef it, lef it. But he want go. He gone buy and look like everywhere yoh go; yoh go buy food, yoh go buy groceries, no matter what you buy, dehn si somebody we dah fi dehn enemy and dehn just start to shoot. I mena dat’s totally outrageous cause di innocent get hurt.”
Joshua Bermudez
“Dehn kill di man just like dat. Dah really innocent person dead and dehn really have to do something about di violence out yah weh di happen. A lot of people di dead fi nothing. Like he, he neva deserve fi get weh ih get. He have ih two kids and ih wife and dat dah weh he attend to and ih wife. He noh mess round wid nobody pan di street cause Young dah wah person he keep to ihself and he always keep to like talk to we and tell we ih problems so I noh think dah something weh he gone do out deh. Just dat he mi deh dah di wrong place at di wrong time.”
Jose Sanchez
“He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.” That’s something we hear regularly these days; innocent people getting shot. What is Jaguar really doing right now, it seems to be an area being where there should have been a lot of patrols?”
Sgt. Fitzroy Yearwood
“Well, Jose like everything else, our patrols are out there but when the criminals want to commit their crimes they will try their best to monitor the patrols. What we have to do is to continue to encourage our officers to do regular stop and search, especially of known criminals. But nevertheless, our operations are still out there. We will of course again have to step it up another notch. At the end of the day our police try to be all over the place. So it’s not a scarce commodity for police officers, we’re out there; it’s just that criminals are planning their crimes more accurately.”
Though criminals are accurate with their planning, their inaccurate and careless aim continues to claim innocent lives. Reporting for news five, Jose Sanchez.
My condolences to his wife & children.
People, get a grip, there are no wrong place at the wrong time murders in Belize. We have armed young men who will take another person’s life for any given reasons or no reason at all if that’s what their psychotic little minds desire.
The GOB will get blamed for this one as too, as well as the other murders that will take place over the weekend.
No need to start raving over a poll for this one, we are all in agreement for the death penalty for gun user’s, or perhaps it’s just me.
R.I.P YOUNG.
This is the news from channel 7…EGGYS KILLER GETS OFF….WHAT KIND A BS IS THAT…Now you tell me if this makes sense. Another murderer on the street…I believe that Cheryl Lyn da wah waste of time to this nation…She needs to be fired…Fire her Honorable Prime Minister..PLEASE…The people of Belize needs justice.
Why is it that when someone gets shot in Belize for some reason we always try to justify these criminals actions by saying that the victim is at the wrong place at the wrong time.Can someone tell me which part of Belize is the right place to be?Are you guys saying that the criminals are the only ones who are free to go where ever they want to go in Belize?
That is heartbreaking…such an innocent guy now his kids will grow up without a father. SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE ABOUT THIS CRIME RATE IN BELIZE. It does not make our country look good.
damn, it’s really getting scarey to visit the city now with these animals shooting like crazy like no humans are around. I have no idea what to think with so much crimes hapenning in our small jewel. soon the city wil be left with a small amount of residents, they are being killed for no reason at all.
Government cannot always be blamed for these crimes,but when will they start implementing a program in the schools curriculum teaching kids how to resolve disputes.
This could help eventually before it reaches the point where people keep shooting each other over petty stuff.
The other reason for these shootings could be drugs, but this is another BIG PROBLEM.
Your Topic is not warranted since it makes the victim responsible for the crime committed against him. The reduction of crime within a populace is the responsibility of the community , law enforcement , and the government.
RIP Burton Young….sympathies to his family. One no longer knows what to say in these situations now….hopefully one day the Government will step up. Else the people need to step up.
That could have been anyone of us……..Most bullets don’t have names on them.
Charity begins at home and most of the problems were facing today is as a result of the values been taught to us at home.There are parents who condones criminal activity.With that said Government has a obligation to protect it’s Citizens from foreign and domestic threats.
how sad sad sad sad ive been telling you belizeans for over a year now that things would get worse and so said so done and where is the minister why is he not speaking out on this matter why is he silent ill tell you why cause he is uselesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss impotent he should start paying for all these funerals blame from the top down pm and company are to blame my condolences to this family and if i were you i would make this pm and his gov pay for the funeral where is he where is he is he under a bush is he at the beach in la is he in miami or chicago we wa have to change the name of this country from belize to tombstone central america uselesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss gov.
I was starting to wonder the same thing Rod seems the PM is always in miami, or chicago we elected him for Belize so PM please tend to your job here before we kick u out of government
I now we cannot just blame the government for the crime situation but they were voted in to help solve the crime but all the government does is nothing. They have Doug Singh there and he doing nothing different with the crime situation. The Prime Minister give his appointment to Cherly DPP and she is not producting. The PM doesn’t care about us because his family is happy with all our tax payers money. Where was the PM when that little girl was being buried. The UDP is puttiing people in key location of government who doesn’t have the belizean people at heart.
yes trikz you right gal this pm has got to go and the rest of this useless gov has got to go we need people who care about its citizens and will protect them can you imagine if we had to go to war with guatemala we cant even defend we self in belize city much less anything else i tell you tourist if you come to belize you better bring your six shooters with you because youll be stepping into tomstone central america belizean people stop kill up unu self unu the start to look like animals and fu what nothing 5cnt 10cent dolla where is the pm voice on this matter lets drag him out you too news 5 find this pm make him answer to the people damm you cant even enjoy eating you panades what animals.
So sad…condolences to Mr. Young’s family.
Thid guy was a kool dude! When will these young ignorant A**holes will stop and thiniking about the stupidiness they are doing……they are taking away innocent ppl away from their love ones……i hope they know they can run but can’t hide from God!!
You no the real problem in belize is the justice system the kolbe foundation isn’t a prison folks it’s a place for criminals to go and think of what’s next on their criminal agenda belize will never changed is not being negative but if you see this country goes every year worst who is to blame?First parents my friend if a person never had good someone to guide them through the right path then we might have a trouble maker now I said might cause I’ve known people that didn’t had any parents and turned out to be good people, 2nd to blame is the damn government all government around the world are corrupted Aholes the only difference is price you might pay more in some countries than others to get the dirty work done now going back to blaming government if the government had more recreational programmes for young people and young adults we would definately have less criminals in the country but the government don’t give a damn let me tell you something people if you guys think that the police don’t know who is doing the killings or who is selling drugs think again people the police know and the criminals that are still out of jails is because they knew who to bribe I see it all the time from where I live my friends.If we don’t do something soon the country will be run by Criminals well it’s already being run by Criminals it will be run by a different kind of Criminals the ones without their law degrees and their other degrees.
i’m so tried of reading about murder in Belize, i love my country and people but when will it stop. these animals are killing good people. soon no one will want to come to Belize. i myself don’t want to come .
rod………. YOU HAVE A VALID POINT. The news organizations including Channel 5 , DO NOT HOLD THE POLITICIANS ACCOUNTABLE. They just barely report the news and don’t “press” for answers from THOSE IN CHARGE.
When will the people stand for themselves and stop waiting for someone to stand for them!
It is so sad to see many innocent and hard working people being killed.Our goverment is to be blamed, they seem not to care what goes on out there.My belizean people wake up open your eyes an study carefully what is going on .It looks like a conspiracy,we have to becareful that what happen to one of our neighbouring countries is not happening to us.where the rich and powerful developers pour money to young kids with no ambition to commited all sort of crimes,after a while the poor people fear for their lives and sell out cheap,in comes the rich developer buys out at a cheap price developes and then our poor people will not be able to own a piece of their own land,why the goverment closed its eyes to the crime because the greedy ministers get pay off and only they end up owning a house or condo in the new developement
This one got to me! I knew Burton Young ,he was such a well mannered young man,not a trouble maker always happy with a smile for every one,I got coldseed when I read that.he was shot and killed,wake up Belizeans stop the killing!!!!!! my sympathies to his family.R.I.P.Burton.
Its a pitty that our country has lost the control when it comes to these issues. I dont knw the guy but upon hearing the statements of his employer and his co-workers i realize he is a great person. My condolences to his wife and his kids. Due to this on going gun violence many people dont want to go to the city at all but its a must since most of the belizean people are employed in the city. Its a shame that the country has reached a state in which not even its own people are afraid to walk the streets. Lets join hands as a belizean people to ask the good Lord to give our leaders and law officers the knowledge to solve these issues because enough is enough…its not pleasant to turn on news every night and we hear of another murder each day it hurts so bad and it looks so bad. it gives our country a really bad name..
an outstanding young man. a devastating loss for his family and for the nation. Burton did not use his poverty as an excuse to play the drugs game. if we were all like YOung we wouldn’t have this killing in the streets. period.
May God Bless you Burton. RIP