Mid-morning Execution on Iguana Street, Mark Medina is Gunned Down

Mark Medina

The first of two murders in the City was a broad daylight shooting on Iguana Street which claimed the life of thirty-one year old Mark Medina and left a fifty-five year old taxi operator fighting for his life at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. Egbert Hemmans had taken Medina to a house on Iguana Street on Sunday when he was ambushed by a gunman. The gunman would also turn his gun on Hemmans who was hit to the chest and abdomen. But was Medina lured to his death? Police are looking at phone records because Medina received a call to go to the house on Iguana Street, but was instead greeted by a gunman who opened fire on him. The Berkeley Street resident would lay dead on the sidewalk until afternoon, when family members say he would be brought to the morgue and pronounced dead by doctors. Duane Moody reports.

Duane Moody, Reporting

The second murder for the weekend would take place on Iguana Street in Belize City around ten a.m. on Sunday. Thirty-one year old Mark Medina, who is well known to the streets, would be murdered on the sidewalk in front of number nineteen Iguana Street as he alighted a taxi. Medina was executed as he went to meet someone at the residence.

Supt. Hilberto Romero, Head, CIB, Eastern Division

“Police visited Iguana Street where they found the lifeless body of Mark Medina, thirty-one years. He had multiple gunshot injuries to the face and to the neck. He was transported thereafter to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.”

Reporter

“What is police investigations revealing at this time, sir?”

Supt. Hilberto Romero

“At this time, we have several persons in custody. We are conducting interviews, we are recording statements. This is an ongoing investigation at this moment and no one has been charged so far. We don’t have any clear motive, but we know that he had been charged before for murder, possession of unlicensed firearm, displaying gang membership and several other crimes and offenses.”

Hilberto Romero

It is not known when the gunman took aim at the taxi operator, but when the sound of the blasts subsided, fifty-five year old Egbert Hemmans would have reportedly been shot twice—once to the chest and to the abdomen. He would then drive himself to the K.H.M.H. where he collapsed and is now in a critical condition.

Supt. Hilberto Romero

“A second person was also shot to the abdomen. Egbert Hemmans received a gunshot injury to the abdomen. He was inside a car at the time. He is admitted at the K.H.M.H. in stable condition.”

Duane Moody

“Sir he was the one that took Mister Medina to the location?”

Supt. Hilberto Romero

“Yeah, he was the taxi driver that took Medina to the area.”

Reporter

“Sir, do police know at this time what he was doing in that area?”

Supt. Hilberto Romero

“We don’t know what he was doing in that area. The taxi took him there and at some point, a lone gunman came out of a yard and fired several shots at him.”

While police say that no motive has been established for the murder, Medina’s family is of the opinion that he was lured to his death. He reportedly took a cab to the Iguana Street address to pick up an unknown item when he would be the target of a lone gunman. In the wake of his killing, however, his personal belongings are being withheld from the family.

Supt. Hilberto Romero

“His personal properties are with the police. The post mortem will be done today; thereafter, those properties will be handed over to the family.”

Reporter

“Sir, do the police have a catalogue of that because the family is complaining?”

Supt. Hilberto Romero

“Yes, the items are documented. We don’t allow personal properties to be taken to the morgue for the same reason so that no allegations are made. The police documents those items and then they are handed back to the families which also includes his cellular phone.”

Duane Moody for News Five.