San Pedro resident murdered over the weekend

As recent as last week the San Pedro community came together to fight an alarming spike in crime and violence in the island. On Saturday, the news spread early in the morning that a man had been murdered. Since then the police have been investigating the murder of forty-nine year old Alfred ‘Cat’ Kelvin Junior. His lifeless body was discovered on Seaweed Street in the San Juan area after residents called in about a gunshot. About a month ago, there was a murder of an alleged drug dealer not far from where Kelvin Junior’s body was found. There are no leads at this time because nobody saw anything and there is difficulty in finding a motive. Mike Rudon was in San Pedro, this morning and has the story.

Mike Rudon, Reporting

At about five minutes past two on Saturday morning San Pedro Police received information of a gunshot in the San Juan area. They responded and found the lifeless body of forty-nine year old Alfred Kelvin at this spot on the corner. He had been shot once in the right eye. Kelvin is known to the Police as a transient, residing in the San Juan area but with no fixed address.

Supt. Luis Castellanos, Officer Commanding, San Pedro Police

Luis Castellanos

“We interviewed some persons in the area, and one of the individuals said he had spoke to him just an hour prior and they just conversed and he left. The Police patrol, because we are patrolling the area, met him just five minutes prior to him being shot. We know that we saw him in the area. The Police spoke to him and after that he was apparently shot and killed.”

Castellanos says the Kelvin is known to be a drug user. His body was discovered about ten feet away from where Dennis Palacio, an alleged drug dealer, was gunned down one month ago.

Supt. Luis Castellanos

“This town is a tourist town. We depend on tourism a lot. And incidents like this are of concern. Because if tourists start to get alarmed that there is a situation here, then the tourists will not come to San Pedro and so it is definitely of concern. From the prior shootings we have been having patrols in the area, and in my meetings with my staff we discuss…let us patrol, this is the area that is giving us the most problem. Let us stick to the patrols. And we have the patrols in. In fact, just prior to him getting killed the Police spoke to him, so that is indicating that the Policemen are patrolling the area, so it’s just that the criminal element is one step ahead of us.”

Alfred Kelvin Sr.

Castellanos says that Kelvin had no family on the island. But he did have family in Belize City. His father Alfred Kelvin Sr. and stepmother, Thelma, heard about the murder on the news. They hadn’t seen the victim in probably seven years.

Alfred Kelvin Sr., Father of Deceased

“Well to be truthful, I say about five, six, seven years since we see him.”

Thelma Kelvin, Stepmother of Deceased

“…That he mi gone visit we dah Corozal beucase after that he mi gone to the United States and then after that he come back. And fi he nephew call me and tell me if I mi know Alfred come from states. And I tell him no. And he said yes, ih come and ih gone dah San Pedro. From then we neva see ahn until now that we get the news that dehn kill ahn da San Pedro.”

Thelma Kelvin

His family says that Kelvin was likely deported from the US. He never made any attempts to contact them, even when he returned to Belize. Still, it’s a shock for his father, who never expected to see his eldest son this way.

Alfred Kelvin Sr.

“I feel it very much beucase it is the longest that I see him and now that I see him, he’s dead. But I woulda really want the police or anybody find out why he died like that.”

They say that they will head out to San Pedro to get answers of their own, though investigations by the Police have led nowhere. Mike Rudon for News Five.

Superintendent Castellanos says he is currently in discussions with both the B.D.F. and the Coast Guard to explore the possibility of mounting long-term operations in the north of San Pedro to deal with rampant drug activity.