Search Continues in Lucky Strike

For the fourth day, the bushes of Lucky Strike were scoured by family and friends looking for Kelvin Usher.  The family holds hope alive, but every passing minute is critical to locate the minor. The search parties were joined today by Assistant Commissioner of Police Chester Williams, the head of the Professional Standards Branch of the Police, on whose desk the investigation rests. News Five’s Duane Moody reports.

Kelvin Usher

Duane Moody, Reporting

With each passing day, the possibility that a Belize City minor may not be located is a frightening scenario. Where is seventeen-year-old Kelvin Usher?  It is over seventy-two hours since he was last seen in the company of his father, Cameron Usher Senior, in a farm in Lucky Strike Village, Belize District. While walking on a path through the bush, they were ambushed by a team of GSU officers who fired several shots.

Karima Williams

Karima Williams, Mother of Missing Minor [File: September 26^th, 2017]

“He was in the vicinity; they were on a farm land that was not for their father or anything like that. They were all over that side and shorts were fired and they ran. They caught his father and he went missing. Shots were fired. Shots were fired. So if that’s the case, maybe he was injured, maybe down somewhere lying hurt. But we didn’t see any blood, but it rained.”

Benjamin Black, Participated in Search

“People weh yo expect to look out for you, yo have double thoughts about and that noh supposed to di happen.”

Belizean artist Benjamin Black, also known as Blakberry, participated in the search. He joins the family and friends who say that after combing the entire section of the forest up to King’s College Compound, they don’t believe that the minor is in the area.

Benjamin Black

Benjamin Black

“We search the whole place. Walk around in this area just so we exactly see where this thing actually happen. And spread out; wah team gone so, one gone so. But when we do the rounds them, we realize that yo can’t go nowhere else from ina this circumference ah weh we deh right yah; ina this parameter right yah. They have water all around like wah pond. Like the entrance weh we come front there is the only entrance and then they have water all around so there is nowhere yo could go pass dehn water deh. And from everywhere ina di place weh we deh, ina di bush, we could hear the traffic and we can hear people. So I personally di figure that if it is a case where somebody is actually lost, ih coulda mi find dehn way back out easy.”

And today, for a fourth day in a row, family and friends joined this time by the B.D.F. and residents in the area with hunting dogs, and traversed through the various ponds in search of Kelvin. But there are no signs of the minor.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Chester Williams arrived at the location around eleven a.m. to get Cameron Usher Senior’s account of the incident and a walkthrough of the area. He heads the Professional Standards Branch of the Police Department, and has been instructed to investigate the matter. According to the family, B.D.F. soldiers have confirmed that there were several bullet holes in trees near the clearing; however, the slugs had been deliberately removed prior to a police led investigation in the area.

Nello Player

Nello Player, Relative of Missing Minor [File: September 26^th, 2017]

“Just how everything di flesh out, I don’t like it so far. From the little that I know and how the whole story was reported I noh think that ih do it justice. I don’t think dah wah truthful story so that immediately raise wah red flag.”

Today, long time family friend and P.U.P. Deputy Party Leader, Cordel Hyde came out to Lucky Strike to support the family during the search.

Cordel Hyde

Cordel Hyde, Family Friend

“Anybody pan south side weh live ina fi we neighborhood know how she raise ih kids. They dah south side royalty; classy kids, mannerly kids, smart kids, they stay ina school, stay focus and noh get distracted. Yo know we live ina tough neighborhoods and easiest thing dah fi get distracted. But she keep ih kids on the straight and narrow so this dah just unbelievable stuff. And anything we could do to lend these families support, solidarity, we need to do it.”

Duane Moody for News Five.

The family plans to continue the search.