The Mysterious Death of Cabbie Odner Estiverne

Odner Estiverne

There were three shooting incidents beginning Friday evening in the south side of Belize City that left one person dead and five others injured. Shooting victim Cardinal Andrews also succumbed and elsewhere, police are trying to determine the cause of death of a person whose remains were discovered off the Coastal Road. We go to a shooting on Friday evening, which turned deadly for a cabbie driver; the second to be murdered this month following the murder of Albert Cattouse. Just before five p.m., forty-year-old Odner Estiverne, a Haitian taxi driver of Nutmeg Street, was hit to the right upper side of the back as he drove his dollar van on Complex Avenue in the City. Police believe that he was targeted by criminals who wanted to use his van to carry out a robbery. News Five’s Duane Moody reports.

Duane Moody, Reporting

Was a taxi operator targeted by criminals who wanted his van? That’s what police officers are trying to ascertain as investigations continue into the Friday evening murder of Odner Estiverne. The forty-year-old Haitian national was shot just before five p.m. as he approached the intersection of Complex Avenue and Jones Street, in a hotspot of the south side of Belize City. He was rushed to the K.H.M.H. but perished while undergoing surgery.

Marco Vidal

Sr. Supt. Marco Vidal, Regional Commander, Eastern Division South

“Around four-forty-nine p.m., Mister Odner Estiverne, forty years, a Haitian naturalized Belizean of Nutmeg Street, received gunshot wounds to the left side of the abdomen. He later succumbed to his injuries at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. Mister Estiverne was driving his grey dodge van and when he approached the corner of Complex Avenue and Jones Street, that is when he was shot upon by a lone male person and later succumbed to his injuries.”

Odner was living in Belize since 2003 until his untimely death on Friday evening. He made his living working as a taxi driver for the popular dollar-vans in the Lake Independence area. While on his routine route, a gunman opened fire on him.

Voice of: Chenelson Estiverne, Nephew of Murder Victim

“I don’t really understand anything about it. There is no understanding because the man just died like that.”

Duane Moody

“Did he ever complain to you guys about having any problems with anybody out there or that his life had been threatened?”

Voice of: Chenelson Estiverne

“No, no. There was none of that. And my uncle is a friendly person. Everybody in the street is saying that the man noh deserve to dead like that. He noh do nothing to nobody; he always di help, always di give and they just do that to him.”

Dezerie Magdaleno

By several accounts, it was a lone gunman that took aim at the Haitian cab driver, but police say that they are looking for several persons in connection with this latest homicide on the south side of Belize City. Assistant Commissioner of Police Dezerie Magdaleno says police officers, at a nearby checkpoint in the area, opened fire at the culprits before they escaped.

ACP Dezerie Magdaleno, Commander, Eastern Division

“Police presence was within the immediate area and as a matter of fact, police were able to engage the shooter. Police had fired shots at the shooter; police actually saw persons as a result of the ongoing situation.”

Sr. Supt. Marco Vidal

“No motive has been determined as yet, but it is suspected that the vehicle would have been used to commit a robbery. But that has not been established as yet so the motive remains unknown at this time. This investigation continues; we are seeking three persons in relation to this and the investigation into this matter continues, as I said earlier.”

Aside from his family and friends here in Belize, Odner leaves behind a wife and two children, who currently reside in the U.S.  Meanwhile, the family is yet to finalize funeral arrangements.

Voice of: Chenelson Estiverne

“We have no answer yet for that. We don’t know if he will be buried here or if he is going back to the country, but we are still waiting on that.”

Duane Moody for News Five.