Gang Figure “Fat Cat” Slain in Ladyville
Rene Chavarria
In the Belize District, there was a violent end to the life of twenty-five-year-old Rene Chavarria, who was shot and killed in Ladyville on Friday night. Chavarria was riding a bicycle along Marage Road sometime after nine o’clock when he came under attack by a trio of men. Multiple shots were fired from at least two weapons, including a nine millimeter handgun and a twelve gauge shotgun. During the assault, a minor was also injured to the left leg. In an attempt to flee his attackers, the self-employed fisherman jumped across a nearby drain and ran approximately twenty-five feet into the adjacent swamp but was unable to escape the hail of bullets. His body was later recovered by police who responded to the scene of the shooting in the vicinity of the Caribbean Shrimp Farm. While he is reportedly the leader of the Rocky Road Gang, a motive for the deadly assault is seemingly unrelated to his affiliation with the group.
Edward Broaster
ACP Edward Broaster, Regional Commander, Rural Eastern Division
“On that same evening, we got reports of shots being fired in the Milpa area. When police visited the area we learned that a juvenile, a young child was shot in the leg. He was transported to the K.H.M.H. and a subsequent, further investigation led to the discovery of Rene Chavarria who was shot multiple times and apparently dead in the Milpa area in some bushes. We have since launched an investigation into that shooting incident where we have some main suspects that we are looking for at this time. And I must mention that the suspects are neither from Ladyville or Belize City. We should be able to capture them shortly. We found on the scene two nine millimeter expended shells and the twelve gauge expended cartridge which was recovered on the scene. I know that he was involved in a number of incidents. As a matter of fact, he is purported to be the leader of the Rocky Road Gang, but we know the motive for his shooting and as soon as we capture the three suspects, actually two, we have one in custody. As soon as we capture the other two suspects we will be briefing the media as to the motive and the reason for the shooting. In cases like this we look at all that but given the motive and nature of what we believe transpired, we do not anticipate that there will be any retaliation as it pertains to this incident. We know that some people were trying to mislead us, the suspects in this case, and I know that those words are out and about on the streets but we will definitely clear that up shortly so that nobody goes and harm anyone that was not involved in this incident.”
News Five attempted to speak with the grief-stricken mother of Rene Chavarria, however, she declined comment. Rene was accused of the attempted murder of construction worker Edwin Moody on March fourteenth, 2012. Less than a year ago, on March thirty-first 2015, his brother Jamie Chavarria was murdered on Berkeley Street in the city. That murder is still under investigation along with a string of homicides in the wake of Jamie’s murder.
