Two wounded, suspect arrested in City shooting spree

The best thing that could be said about a shooting spree this weekend in Belize City is that nobody was killed and a suspect has been arrested. Otherwise it was a pretty scary piece of work.

Jacqueline Godwin, Reporting
Exactly what caused twenty-seven year old Jason Williams better known as ?soup? and two other young men to open fire on several vehicles is not clear, but by the time the shooting spree ended there was a trail of bullet riddled cars and two women wounded in the head and body. Williams? car, a grey Toyota Camry, has been impounded by police after it was positively identified as the vehicle used in the incident.

G. Michael Reid, Police Press Officer
?It seems like two innocent persons got shot. Persons that were not doing anything but minding their own business and going about their business. This is of much concern because at the end of the day we can only think that it could have been anybody. One of us could have been out there.?

According to police press officer G. Michael Reid investigations reveal that the around nine on Saturday night Williams and two other persons were seen getting into the car in a n area near the Queen?s Square bridge. The suspects then headed east and upon reaching the corner of King Street and Euphrates Avenue the car crashed into a maroon Montero that was reportedly pulling out from a parking space. Inside the vehicle at the time were Randolph and Myrna Young.

G. Michael Reid
?We do not know if words were exchanged or something occurred but thereafter we know that shots were fired.?

One of those bullets caught Young on her right hip. Young who did not wish to appear on camera, is recovering at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. As for the gunmen, Reid says after their first hit, the car then travelled towards West Canal where it made a right turn into the Rocky Road area. Residents say that as the vehicle travelled at high speed they heard numerous gunshots and then saw two armed masked men leaning out the car window shooting wildly. As people ran to get out of the way bullets hit this white Buick parked alongside the canal and a blue Toyota Tercel. Slugs also blew out two of the street lights and damaged the walls of one of the houses. Twenty-five year old Ruth Tillett who was passing by in her Geo Prism was grazed in the head. She received treatment at Belize Medical Associates and was released.

Jacqueline Godwin
?At this time, do the police know what instigated the shooting spree?

G. Michael Reid
?No, it is not quite clear. It seems that this individual got upset when the accident first occurred. He might have felt that it wasn?t his fault and that it was someone else fault and was what they term many times as road rage. We believe that this might have sparked off something inside of him and he just went crazy thereafter.?

Jacqueline Godwin
?Nobody here was the intended target??

G. Michael Reid
?We don?t know, but at this point it doesn?t seem that way. Because there was no altercation as far as we understand prior to this with him and any of these individuals. So we don?t think that that would have been the motive for that at all.?

Williams, a resident of Supal Street, after being positively identified by witnesses was charged with two counts of Attempted Murder, two counts of Aggravated Assault, Dangerous Harm, Wounding, Use of Deadly Means of Harm and Damage to Property.

G. Michael Reid
?This individual is no stranger to the police and he has been in problems with the police before. We don?t know what really ticked him off in this incident, but again the fact that he would just be shooting like that is very concerning. Fortunately we believe that this is just an aberration it is not something that occurs all the time, but certainly once is enough and the concern is indeed deep.?

Police say they are now looking for the other two men who were travelling along with Williams at the time of the shooting.