Youth killed two weeks after release from prison
It was a bloody weekend in which criminals took over the streets. Four persons were senselessly murdered; three of the homicides took place in the Southside of Belize City in close proximity. In the other, a young man was slain in a village in the north. News Five’s Jose Sanchez took to the dangerous streets of Belize City where he found out that many witnesses are living in fear for their own lives. We begin with the latest murder at North Creek.
Jose Sanchez, Reporting
Early this morning after nine, a murder occurred in the North Creek area of Belize City. Eighteen year old Steven Grant, A.K.A. Egbert, was shot and killed about two blocks away from his home. Grant was recently released from prison. His family was too distraught to speak to the media. A crowd gathered at the scene and an ambulance had to assist Grant’s sister and mother who fainted on the street. There were several bystanders at the scene, one of them spoke to us off camera.
Voice of: Passer By
“I mi di come up the street and I hear two shot. Something like two shot, it was loud. I saw somebody in white t-shirt and I saw like wah struggle all di way up di street. What made me sure it was a gunshot was when I saw young men from the plum tree run up dah side. Afterwards I gone si weh really mi di happen out deh and when I urn up I si dis young man wid white t-shirt pan di ground wid a gunshot inna di top ah ih head and ih look like one da di back ah ih head cause di hole pan one side ah ih shirt, like di right side ah ih body full ah blood. And one ah di next young man mi di stand up front ah he like ih di mek some calls. Dat dah weh I si when I reach out deh and some other friends reach out deh aftawards. Lee bit afat dat di police vehicle come and shortly afta di ambulance come but when I reach out deh he mi done dead already. Apparently he just gone walk a young lady up dah side gone mek ih ketch bus and mi di come back when dat happen. Dat dah just di lee talking weh yoh hear inna di crowd out dah side.”
Marsha Smith, a friend of the family, was talking to Eggy during the week about life behind bars and how her son Sharife, was tragically murdered earlier this year. Smith is shocked about Grant’s murder.
Marsha Smith, Friend of Victim’s Family
“Ih ma mi deh fi me fi my son. We dah like sista. We dah real friend yoh feel mi? I neva think inna—my son just have three months since he died and I neva think ah ready dis wah happen to somebody dat close to me again.”
Jose Sanchez
“So you’re here to console the mother?”
Marsha Smith
“I have to de by ih side twenty-four just like she was by my side. I feel it and I know weh she di go through.”
Jacqueline Godwin, Channel Seven
“You believe Eggy’s murder had anything to do with the other murders that happened this weekend in Belize City?”
Marsha Smith
“No, because he just come out ah jail about two weeks; bout wah cause dah last week Monday I think ih come out. Ih just come out ah jail and ih come, ih deh dah my house everyday. Ih deh dah my house ova di weekend and ih come and ih sit down and we mi di talk bout my son weh gone and I di tell ah bwai look how mi son dehn seh ih own friend dehn kill ah but we noh know dat. We noh di point finga but dehn seh and me and he sit down di talk and he di tell me things weh he hear back ah jail and I di tell ah things weh I hear out yah cause we noh know. So I tell ah man I wah just lef my son death like dat cause we now know dah who do it. Dehn only di seh dah ih friend do but we noh know dat so we can’t do nothing.”
Jacqueline Godwin
“And at anytime Eggy though that his own life was in danger?”
Marsha Smith
“No, no really. Honestly no.”
Police have detained individuals for questioning but no charges have been filed. Reporting for News Five, Jose Sanchez.
