Shooting leaves one dead in city

Belize City chalked up another murder over the weekend. The victim and the alleged perpetrators were, as is all too often the case, young, while the motive, which remains murky, seems to bear little relation to the finality of the crime. News 5’s Jacqueline Woods has more.

Rodney Baird, Uncle of the Deceased
?Well it’s hard, it’s hard on us especially to know that it happened for practically for no reason because in our knowledge at this moment we cannot say what was the main motive, but just to say that it was a senseless act of violence which Arthur did not deserve.?

Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
Twenty-one year old Arthur Oswald Crawford was only three feet away when the killer described only as a young man shot him in the chest with what authorities believe to be a small calibre weapon. The murder occurred around eleven thirty on Saturday night on Central American Boulevard.

Rodney Baird
?I believe probably in my opinion he was going to the restaurant to buy some food before going home because he was already on the streets where his other friends live. So I believe that he must have been heading to Archies to buy some food before heading home. Other than that it?s unknown.?

Police say as Crawford rode on his bicycle he was approached by two young men on separate bicycles. It is not certain if there was an exchange of words but one of the assailants pulled out a handgun and shot Crawford. He died on the way to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. Authorities say Crawford was killed because of a previous altercation he had with the shooter but the family say they do not know why their loved one was killed.

Rodney Baird
?Basically, I believe it?s just a senseless act of envy and jealousy whereby one group is retaliating for no reason on another group and which led to this tragic incident. But one thing I know is that my nephew is not a youth that decided to take the wild end of the streets to indulge in acts of crime and violence. Unfortunately he got caught up in that end, but not to say he was a part of such violence and crime in the street.?

The police have since taken into custody Luciano Torres and charged him with conspiracy to commit murder. Meanwhile they are looking for Charles Hinds who they believe can assist in the investigation. Jacqueline Woods for News 5.

The murder of Arthur Crawford was number eleven for 2005.