Aaron King Shot at Buttonwood Bay Party

Aaron King

As the weekend progressed, party goers at an event in Buttonwood Bay scattered in fear of their lives. Among the guests was Belize City resident Aaron King. One of two hit men called out his name and when he turned to respond, King was met by fire. He fled from the scene, but the gunmen set chase behind him and fired two additional shots. The gunmen were soon apprehended; one is in custody at the station and the other is under police guard at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. King’s sister recalls that as recent as last year, she lost her seven-year-old son to gun violence.  News Five’s Duane Moody reports.

Duane Moody, Reporting

Guests at a birthday celebration on Sunday night were consumed by terror just after nine o’clock when a partygoer was targeted by one of two men who came to carry out a hit. Aaron King was standing here with his girlfriend and another friend, when someone called him out. As he turned around, he would be shot once at close range by a gunman. According to Shakera Young, her brother ran from his attacker who pursued him and fired two more shots, which also caught him on the abdomen.

Shakera Young, Sister of Shooting Victim

“First they rode pass and they called my brother by his name, one of them. He came off the bike and he shot my brother at close range. And when my brother ran, he ran down behind him and he shot him two more times.”

Duane Moody

“So three times he was shot?”

Shakera Young

“Yes.”

Duane Moody

“To which part of the body?”

Shakera Young

“Two in the chest and one in the right shoulder.

Duane Moody

“So without a doubt, your brother was the intended target.”

Shakera Young

 “Definitely”

Reporter

“And do you know why someone would want to target him?”

Shakera Young

“Well based from my discussion with him early this morning, he is still shocked by what happened. And he himself is not able to identify what was the cost because he doesn’t have that kind of confrontation with people, per say, to trigger such actions.”

But the two gunmen who arrived on bicycle were nabbed by police shortly after the shooting; one was shot allegedly by an off-duty police officer, who attended the party and responded by discharging his licensed firearm. Police arrived to the scene within minutes and apprehended the perpetrators; the bicycle and firearm were also retrieved from the scene.

Joseph Myvett

ACP Joseph Myvett, Head, National Crimes Investigation Branch

“A person, who was at the function, having a licensed firearm, thereby fired several shots at the suspect who was later identified to be one Moses Babb, who also received two apparent gunshot injuries to the abdomen area.”

Shakera Young

“When I asked him he said, I don’t know. I don’t know the young man. All I know is that I got shot. I don’t even know if they knew him Duane. We are getting a lot of back and front, behind the scenes kinda discussion where we are trying to sieve information to determine what was the motive.”

The shooting of King is painful for the family because it’s been less than a year since Shakera’s son, seven-year-old Tyler Savery, was executed along with Porshan Pipersburgh as they headed on bicycle to get Tyler a milkshake. But Young says the family is staying strong for Aaron, who remains in a critical condition at the K.H.M.H.

Shakera Young

Shakera Young

“From since I lost my son, it has been a journey for us. But as a family, I can say that we’ve grown because the tragedy brought us closer so that now that something like this happens, we are still together and we would see everybody come together. Duane you know that I am a Christian and I don’t claim sickness, I don’t claim any of those stuff. So whatever the doctor told me, I told my mom, leave him with that report because God has the final say in it. So whatever the doctor said, we accept what he said as a physician; however, we have a greater physician so that is the report we are holding on to and by fate we are saying my brother will make it out of this.”

Duane Moody for News Five.

There are two other shootings which we will have later in the newscast.