Police confirm they shot and killed Travis McKay

Travis McKay

Police are saying tonight that Ladyville resident, Travis McKay, was shot and killed in a cross fire, but family members who witnessed the shooting vehemently contradict the police version. Wednesday’s shooting took place after sixty year old Rafael Hernandez, a butcher of Ladyville, reported that his business, Belize Country Products, located at nine miles on the Phillip Goldson Highway, was robbed by an armed gunman. Police claim they cornered the suspect on Sea Gull Street and further allege he fired three shots at the marked police mobile and this is when they responded and fatally wounded McKay.  They make the point that they recovered were over one hundred and fifty dollars in cash and expended shells. But the family told Duane Moody that McKay was targeted by the police and dispute that he even had a gun.

Duane Moody, Reporting

On Wednesday afternoon, a twenty-two year old Ladyville resident was shot and killed by officers, constables, attached to the Ladyville police sub-formation. The circumstance under which his life was taken is in question because residents say that the deceased, Travis McKay, was executed by police in a yard on Sea Gull Street. Many persons within the vicinity, claim they witnessed the brutality, including his brother and aunt.

Aunt of Deceased [File: November 27^th, 2013]

Aunt of Deceased

“I saw him coming but police were already firing shots at him on the field so I feel like he got shot from out there. He was running towards me so I kept saying Travis what’s happening, what’s happening. And he looked delirious like he already got shot and then Lisa said, here Travis take the bike and run but what happened the police vehicle came on the other side and straight into him. The police just, he run across, jump the street and run across to where he was shot. And then the police opened fire, three, three, pow, pow and I said oh my and I saw him slowly went down on his knees. And his face first, I told them, I called their name because I know them and I said you killed my nephew, you didn’t finish until you killed my nephew.”

Brother of Deceased

Brother of Deceased [File: November 27^th, 2013]

“When I walk around the lane, I see my brother the run come to me and I tell ahn go, go because they will kill yo. Then my bredda the run ina wa opening through the field and  they the next police come that mi deh pan foot  and he the chase ahn and he the shot after my bredda. And I the run through mud and water and I the tell this man that you will kill my bredda stop di shoot at my bredda and I the run behind he and my bredda deh to the front and he deh da middle and he the shoot up after my bredda. I noh know if ih shot my bredda, but my bredda still yet the run with that. But then he di run round the court and I noh get to see the two of them. So I speed up and when I run around the lane dehn done kill my bredda. So I watch he. The one weh kill my bredda stand up and rack back the gun ina my face and tell me noh come yah. And then the one weh mi di chase after ahn from ina d field push his head ina the mud and water. My bredda done deh down there the take a deep breath and he put the gun ina ih hand, put things ina ih pocket. I watch they do that; they chance my bredda cause no police dah Ladyville noh like none ah we.”

McKay’s emotional sibling says that a firearm and other items were planted on his brother’s body. Police say, however, that McKay was killed in a crossfire with the officers as they tried to apprehend him for a robbery that had happened minutes before. Around three-thirty p.m., Belize Country Products on the Philip Goldson Highway was robbed of an undisclosed amount of cash. An armed, masked man in a black sweater and long khaki pants held up the butcher and stole monies from his cash register before escaping into a nearby abandoned house beside Blue House Bar. Police responded and set chase after the accused who was cornered near the Ladyville Basketball Court. This is when it is reported that McKay pulled out a point thirty-eight revolver and fired three shots at the marked police mobile. The officers returned fire and McKay was mortally wounded.  Rural Executive Officer of the Police Department, Assistant Superintendent Christopher Noble, moments after the crime scene was cleared, said that there was a

ASP Christopher Noble, Rural Executive Officer, Police Department [File: November 27^th, 2013]

ASP Christopher Noble

“What we have been able to gather is that there was an incident earlier and the police were following up on that incident. They came up on the gentleman that we have that is now deceased or that we have confirmed deceased. There was possible an exchange of gunfire and the person passed.”

Reporter

“What was the incident and the exchange of gunfire was between whom?”

ASP Christopher Noble

“The incident we have is that there was a robbery or a theft in the general area where this incident occurred. The details I can’t give at this stage because I don’t have it and what we have on the scene is basically that we are trying to piece together essentially what is a puzzle for us and hopefully we can satisfy all parties.”

Reporter

“But can you tell us if the gunfire was between police and the individual?”

ASP Christopher Noble

“No. We know that weapons were fired. To tell you or confirm with you at this stage, I can’t.”

Reporter

“But police were on the scene and they were firing?”

ASP Christopher Noble

“Police were on the scene. To tell you who was firing, I cannot say at this stage.”

Reporter

“There was possibly a crossfire between the deceased, your loved one, and of course.”

Brother of Deceased

“If dah mi wah crossfire, I mi wah get shot from my bredda because I mi wah get shot from my bredda because I mi di run behind this police. If I get the chance I mi wah grab ahn and push ahn down because this man di kill my bredda. My bredda tired; my bredda di run with ih too pants foot soak.”

Today, in a release sent out by the department, it has been confirmed that McKay was killed by officers. The report also says that recovered from him were one hundred and fifty-three dollars, a point thirty-eight snub-nose revolver containing three expended shells, and two live rounds. Also recovered from the inside the police vehicle was three-nine millimeter expended shells. Mother, ____ McKay, says that it is not the first time that her son was targeted by police and that he did not need to die.

Mother of Deceased

Mother of Deceased

“I went and he had me a long time standing up behind his car like a five minutes before I went to see him. When I saw him coming out I break down, cause I couldn’t believe it. I know all the time they are after him; he is scared of the police. He don’t do burglary; he hustle ih lee coconut water, hustle ih lee thing and sell. The last time when they shoot after him, so many shots were fired. I was at work already. And they called and tell me. When they find him, they took him to the station, beat him up; no charge. All that they find was a little weed on him. now they said it is a gun he had or something like that. he’s not that type.”

Sister of Deceased

Sister of Deceased

“He dah mi wah loving person; dah my bredda. He loving, anything yo ask ahn fi do, he wah do it. Anybody could ask ahn fi do anything for them and he wah do it. Just that ih hate…when police ker yo dah station, dehn beat up yo and that dah why he run.”

Brother of Deceased

“Ih put ih hand like ih put it pan ih shirt fi search ahn and ih push my bredda head ina mud and water; stand up pan my bredda head like that.”

Reporter

“This is after he was shot and on the ground?”

Aunt of Deceased

(Nodding yes) “I’ll be honest with you. They said it is a robbery. I don’t know what happened there, but I see the shooting. I don’t know what happened to the front because I was not there.”

The body of McKay now awaits a post mortem examination at the K.H.M.H. Duane Moody for News Five.

McKay is the second person to be killed by police this week and also the second Ladyville resident to be killed in seven months in similar circumstances. A high ranking officer of the Ladyville formation allegedly executed twenty-one year old Ryan Lozano on April eighteenth. Lozano was said to have been burglarizing a home in Los Lagos along with another suspect when they was captured. But it was Lozano who shot multiple times in the back and died within hours at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital.