?Marked man? gunned down in City…

Life is increasingly cheap on the streets of Belize City…and that observation was reinforced this morning when shortly after ten the latest victim–himself no stranger to violence–was gunned down in a congested neighbourhood just west of downtown. News 5’s Jacqueline Woods has the story.

Jacqueline Woods, Reporting

We may never know exactly why twenty-two year old Leonard Arnold was murdered, but one thing is certain: his death came as no surprise. There were at least two previous attempts on his life and Arnold made no attempt to disguise the fact that he was a marked man.

Voice of Acquaintance/Witness

?Whenever he come down here he feared his life.?

Jacqueline Woods

?Why? Did he ever say why??

Voice of Acquaintance/Witness

?He just say people are after him, he never say who. He just say people are after him but just sake of he wanted to hail my boy that is why he came down this side.?

Around ten this morning, Arnold went to his friend?s house situated in the Far West street area to repair a bicycle tire. According to the friend?s girlfriend, who did not wish to appear on camera, Arnold was in the backyard and she had just gone back into the house to tend to her baby when she first heard a loud bang and then saw her boyfriend run inside.

Voice of Acquaintance/Witness

?And when I was feeding him it is then that I heard, but I thought it was the tyre that bust that he had just patched.?

Jacqueline Woods

?So you came outside??

Voice of Acquaintance/Witness

?Yes, then I come outside and then I saw all the blood.

Jacqueline Woods

?At that time did you know it was Leonard who had been shot?

Voice of Acquaintance/Witness

?No, my boy run inside so when he run inside I never think that big day that somebody would have done somebody something like that.?

It is believed the killer, described only as a masked man, approached the area from an adjacent alley and then fired a single shot through the opening in this wooden fence. Arnold, who was standing only a short distance away by this small wooden shed, was hit in the back of his head, making it likely that Arnold never saw the gunman. The killing, which took place just across from the West Street Baptist Church and the neighbourhood park, has left residents shaken and one shocked family left behind to cover the remaining evidence of their tragedy. Jacqueline Woods for News 5.

Police are asking anyone with information to please contact the nearest police station or call Crimestoppers at 922.