Cops Say Closing Businesses Had Nothing to Do With Murder

Alden Dawson

Following the murders of Gerald Shiny Tillett and Kadeem Castillo, at least two clubs—Dino’s Night Club and Thirsty Thursday—were reportedly closed down just after midnight on Saturday. Several businesses in the north and south sides of the city were also asked to close shop to prevent further violence. According to the regional commanders of Eastern Division South, the department is also enforcing the liquor licensing act on various establishments that were not in compliance. ACP Chester Williams and Senior Superintendent Alden Dawson explain the lockdown on the city.

Sr. Supt. Alden Dawson, Dep. Regional Commander, Eastern Division South

“There’s no such thing as the city under lockdown. We embarked on the liquor licensing act since last week, prior to the incident, where we are having the shops close at nine because their licenses are only good until nine. And we find that a lot of these shops remain open at night and these were some of what attracted people to be out and the law is saying nine o’clock it should close.”

Chester Williams

On the Phone: ACP Chester Williams, Regional Commander, Eastern Division South

“We are also looking at the stores; those Chinese establishments that remain open after nine p.m. at nights to twelve midnight. We are also closing them down in accordance with the liquor licensing act because many of them are operating under a wrong license because the law clearly lays out materials for a restaurant and what is a convenience store. And most of them have convenience stores or restaurant license and they don’t have the legal requirements prescribed in the liquor licensing act. So we are going after those as well and the reason is that the longer the Chinese shops remain open, the more the streets remain populated; the more populated the streets is, the higher the possibility that a crime is likely to occur. So this measure is being done again to ensure the safety of our people. I am sure that yes they will be those who will be disgruntled due to the efforts that we are doing, but I ask them to please be patient and we apologize for any inconvenience that may be caused as a result of what we are doing. But it is for the safety of our people and we ask that they bear patience with us. Eventually we’ll go back to normalcy where we can sit down with the Liquor Licensing Board to see how we can hash out this issue with those liquor licensing establishments within the south side of Belize City.”