Duo Arrested for the Murder of Belize City Businessman

There was also another murder on Thursday in Belize City in which a well-known businessman was killed at his establishment on Vernon Street. As we reported, two gunmen on bicycle shot and killed Ruben Perez during a robbery at his construction supplies business just after three p.m. on Thursday. Perez was shot once to the head and rushed to the K.H.M.H. but died upon arrival. Surveillance camera captured the entire ordeal and today, two youths—one from Maskall, Belize District and one from Dangriga—have been arrested and charged for his murder. Keon Dennison and Tyron Reid, both under the age of twenty, were detained in a predawn operation today and the other after one this afternoon by police officers attached to Eastern Division South unit. They are not known to police and rarely frequent the city, but with the cooperation from the public and the media, they were apprehended. This afternoon, Regional Commander Senior Superintendent Chester Williams and CIB Commander, Superintendent Hilberto Romero gave the media an update on the investigation.

Supt. Hilberto Romero, Head of CIB

Supt. Hilberto Romero

“In regards to the murder of Ruben Perez that occurred yesterday on Vernon Street, we have arrested two persons—Keon Dennison and Tyron Reid—and they will be charged for this murder. We’d like to thank the public for their assistance; we had several tips that we followed up and this led to the arrest of these persons.”

Reporter

“Are these known individuals to you all?”

Supt. Hilberto Romero

“No they are not known to us. Based on investigation and the cooperation of several elements of the police department, we were able to apprehend them and conducted some searches where the stolen phone belonging to the deceased was also recovered.”

Reporter

“Do you know if these gentlemen had any prior history with the deceased?”

Supt. Hilberto Romero

“No, we know that they did not have any prior history. The information is that they randomly targeted that business place. We have established that the motive for that was robbery. We know at some point there was a struggle at which point one of the assailants fired towards the deceased. The information again we have got is that that business place was randomly selected. It is at the end of Vernon Street. You know that there is no security posted there, so they randomly chose that particular business and targeted that area.”

Sr. Supt. Chester Williams

Sr. Supt. Chester Williams, Regional Commander, Eastern Division South

“If somebody comes to rob, do not have a struggle. At the end of the day, I think that the premises of Mister Perez had reasonably good surveillance cameras; therefore if it was only a robbery, we would still have been able to apprehend those persons. It is an unfortunate situation; I guess it is something that only he would have been able to say why he reacted the way he did. Unfortunately, he was killed senselessly, but I think at the end of the day, like you rightly said, if they come to rob, it is money. Surrender the money and leave the work to the police to try and apprehend them afterwards.”

The firearm used to snuff the life out of Perez has not yet been recovered.