Bar Patrons Impaled by Security Guards in Ladyville; One Dead, One Injured

Wilmer Cisneros

From our count, there have been forty murders since the start of the year with April being the deadliest month with sixteen murders. It’s nine more than the same period last year.  Between Saturday night and this morning, there were four murders, all in the Belize District. Two men were executed in the city on Sunday, while this morning, shots rang out in Mahogany Heights where a single gunshot found its mark on the back of the head of a man who was heading to work. The weekend’s bloodbath, however, started at a bar in Ladyville on Saturday night where Wilmer Cisneros lost his life for as little as a ten-dollar entry fee at a popular bar. Andrea Polanco has this report.

Andrea Polanco, Reporting

Forty-one year old Wilmer Cisneros, a supervisor at M & M Engineering was killed on Saturday night. Cisneros and several colleagues were inside the Blue House Bar socializing around nine that night when he met his death. Cisneros was stabbed to the abdomen and chest. His friend thirty year old Roger Jimenez received a cut to the shoulder and a small stab wound to the shoulder as a result of the incident.

Hilberto Romero

Supt. Hilberto Romero, Head, CIB, Eastern Division

“Investigation has so far revealed that they were approached by the security guards of the establishment regarding the payment for the entrance fee. That led to the fight and at some point, somebody pulled out a knife and inflicted the injuries on the other person, Roger Jimenez and the deceased, Cisneros.”

But what exactly is the story? According to the family, Cisnero and his friends arrived at the bar before nine and there were no security guards at that time. They were made to understand that they didn’t have to pay because they arrived at the establishment before nine.

Carolina Herrera

Carolina Herrera, Sister of the Deceased

“What she is saying is that my brother, her husband, reached to the bar before nine o’clock and after nine you start to pay. They reached before and the securities were not there. So when my brother reached to the bar, the securities were not in the bar because you pay after nine. When they reached the bar, they went to my brother and his friend and approached them and told them that they had to pay. My brother and his friend told them that they were leaving; they were leaving the bar so they were not going to pay because it was before nine and they were going home. So these two gentlemen got mad and quarrel and hurt my brother’s friend with a knife and then two of them came after my brother and they killed him.”

Police say that by the time they arrived, Cisneros was dead. Two security guards of the Blue House Bar have been detained in connection with this murder. Reports are that the guards are claiming they acted in self defense. The file will be sent to the D.P.P.

Lenix Cisneros

Supt. Hilberto Romero, Head, CIB, Eastern Division

“When the police responded he was dead on the scene. As a result of that, an investigation is being conducted. We have two persons in custody. We have prepared a case file which will be forwarded in regards to this murder.”

But was his death justified? Were the security guards acting in self defense? The family says it sounds like a tale that they spun to justify the crime committed, because Cisneros wasn’t carrying any weapon and never pulled a piece of furniture to defend himself.

Lenix Cinceros, Wife of Deceased (Translated)

“No, my husband, she said and my brother, he don’t use any kind of knife or gun…none at all. He never has with him—not in his vehicle, when he is working. He worked for sixteen years at M&M’s Matus. He is very well known in Belize and nobody would ever say he had a gun or knife with him. they were just like I tell you, approached that they had to pay. There was a quarrel…not defense. Of course if you kill somebody you will say no I didn’t. I never do it or I do it to cover myself or whatever. Nobody will come and say yes I kill him because I feel like. Nobody would say that, but he did it. He did it and the proof is that he is in the morgue.”

The Cisneros family says they want to see the perpetrators pay for the crime they committed.

Carolina Herrera

“This cannot happen. Every day we get killed but people just see it in the news and people just watch it in the media, but we are the ones who are feeling the hurt. One little girl five years old and one that will not meet a father. So these securities, whoever they are, they have to pay for what they did without a reason. They are the security who are supposed to be taking care of the people who are in the bar. But they got killed from their house; they take away my brother’s life.”

Reporting for News Five, I am Andrea Polanco.