Teenager gunned down in year’s 31st murder

After almost two weeks of relative peace from the scourge of deadly violence that has rocked the streets of the old capital, over the weekend yet another young man fell victim to a hail of bullets. And as News Five’s Marion Ali reports, the motive of the execution style killing amounts to little more than a petty quarrel between children.

Marion Ali, Reporting
Around nine on Saturday night, eighteen year old Devon Thompson was shot dead as he rode through the intersection of Berkeley Street and Wagner’s Lane. The incident has left his family and area residents in disbelief.

Voice of Berkeley Street Resident
“We mi deh up di street and we just hear the shooting. We hear like six shots so we try run fi rescue wiself and I seh well ih sound just like in front of my house. So I seh, after we done hear the six shots, we walk up the street. We come out and we look up the street and we see like somebody deh down pan the ground deh so all ah we run up the street and we si wah guy lay down pan the ground deh. We noh know who he and they deh call fi di ambulance, they neva come and the police them come and pick up the guy and ker the guy and ih neva dead yet; ih mussy dead pan arrival dah the hospital.”

Marion Ali
“You know who he was?”

Voice of Berkeley Street Resident
“No, I noh know who di person. Just wah guy pass through pan wah cycle and he seh he think he know the guy. Ih seh ih from back ah North Creek area. Well we noh know ah. First time we see he come round yah.”

One of the bullets struck Thompson in the back of the head and three more penetrated his back. That finding supports his family’s belief that someone had been following him.

Voice of Yvonne Waight, Aunt of Murder Victim
“Ih mother seh ih deh home whole day Saturday until the night ih tell ah ih gwein dah fair. And we hear that they mi di follow ah from di canal side and look like they mi want shot ah pan the canal side but they neva do it cause people mi out deh. And they follow ah da pan Berkeley Street and dah then ih get shot.”

Marion Ali
“You know who dah these people weh mi di follow ah, who would want him dead?”

Voice of Yvonne Waight
“No, we noh know nothing.”

Police say investigations reveal that Thompson was heading to a school function not far away from the crime scene.

Inspector Hilberto Romero, Deputy O.C., C.I.B.
“The information we have is that he was heading to the ACC fair that was around that time. He was using that area to go. He was on bicycle, he was riding through the area off of Wagner’s Lane into Berkeley Street and that was where he was shot.”

Marion Ali
“So somebody was following him? And was it one person or a group?”

Inspector Hilberto Romero
“We don’t have how many persons were involved but I believe that they probably were in the area when he passed.”

According to Deputy Officer in Command at the Crimes Investigations Branch, Inspector Hilberto Romero, all indications at this point lead them to believe that revenge was the motive for the shooting.

Inspector Hilberto Romero
“We have information that it is a old misunderstanding he had with some guys in that particular area.”

Marion Ali
“So you have these guys detained?”

Inspector Hilberto Romero
“We have information we are working on. We don’t have anybody detained but we have persons that we are looking for at this time.”

Marion Ali
“So the motive is just an old beef?”

Inspector Hilberto Romero
“We could say that; an old misunderstanding he ha with those guys in that area.”

Marion Ali
“Police seh that ih have beef with somebody.”

Voice of Yvonne Waight
“I noh know. I noh know bout dat.”

For the family this is the second time that they have had to deal with losing a loved one to violence.

Voice of Yvonne Waight
“I feel so bad because deh kill one ah my niece, Keisha Gordon, but she get stab up. They noh find di killa fi she yet so we feel really bad with this lee boy yah too cause dah two. So I woulda really want deh find the killa. We want justice because we get tired ah this now cause this di happen too much. Too much killing and deh noh find the killa them yoh know?”

Up to news time tonight, no arrests had been made in connection to the killing. Marion Ali for News Five.

According to our unofficial count, Thompson’s death is the thirty-first murder of the year.

In related news, police investigations into a shooting in March have resulted in the arrest of a Belize City man. This morning twenty-six year old Trevor Trapp appeared in Magistrates’ Court where he was formally charged with Conspiracy to Commit Murder. He has been remanded to prison until April twenty-ninth. Trapp is accused of being one of the three men who rode up to fourteen-year old Ronim Castellanos on March fifteenth at the corner of Rivero Street and Kraal Road and fired five shots in his direction. The teenager was treated for an injury to his left ankle and released. Two days after the incident, Trevor’s brother Sigmund Trapp was arrested and charged with Attempted Murder and Conspiracy to Commit Murder. Sources tell News Five that while Sigmund is fingered as the triggerman, Trevor was the one who told him to “bust it” when they saw Castellanos. The weapon used in the shooting, a chrome thirty-eight revolver, has not been recovered.