2 Men Die in Weekend Murders in the City
There was a pair of unrelated murders in Belize City on Saturday. A deadly attack on North Creek that morning has left one person critically injured and another inside the morgue at the K.H.M.H. Sometime before eight o’clock, fifty-six-year-old Edward Robinson came under fire as he stood along the stretch of road. Robinson was mortally wounded, while the intended target of the shooting, thirty-three-year-old Jamil Betancourt was seriously injured. Approximately two hours later, another shooting, this time near the intersections of Albert and Berkley streets, would claim the life of Karl Heusner Junior. According to Senior Superintendent Chester Williams, Betancourt reportedly got into an altercation with an unknown individual, moments before the armed assault.
Sr. Supt. Chester Williams, Regional Commander, Eastern Division South
“On Saturday morning, police received a call of a shooting incident on North Creek. Police responded and upon arrival one Edward Robinson was seen in a motionless state. He was taken to the K.H.M.H. where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Whilst at the K.H.M.H., police received information that there was a second victim from that same shooting, one Jamil Betancourt who is still admitted to the K.H.M.H. in stable condition recovering from gunshot wounds. Couple hours thereafter, sometime after midday thereabout, police again received information of shots being fired near the corners of Albert and Berkley Street area and police responded where they saw one Karl Heusner Junior suffering from gunshot wounds. He was transported to the K.H.M.H. and again he was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. From an investigative standpoint, yes it would seem as though Mr. Betancourt was the intended target in that shooting but the shooter who committed the act, I guess he fired shots indiscriminately in the gathering and as a result of that, Mr. Robinson who was in the same vicinity as Mr. Betancourt received the brunt of the shots that were fired and he died while Betancourt survived and is in a stable condition. We have in our custody two persons whom we believe are the shooters but again one of the difficulties police have been experiencing in conducting these types of investigations is where persons who are witnesses refuse to give any statement because of being fearful for their lives as the case may be. So while we have general ideas of who the persons are we cannot proceed because of the evidence that we would need to go further with this investigation.”