Murder in the City: Quency Gentle Killed as He Headed Home

Quency Gentle

Shots rang out again on Wednesday night in an area of the city where gang-related violence has erupted. Twenty-eight-year-old Quency Gentle was two blocks away from his Wilson Street house when he was shot by a lone gunman just before midnight. He was transported to the hospital, but succumbed within minutes. Though police say he may be affiliated with a gang, it is believed the gunman mistook Quency for another family member. He is the second sibling to be killed in the mean streets of the city. News Five’s Duane Moody reports.

Duane Moody, Reporting

Just before eleven o’clock on Wednesday night, shots rang out on Kelly Street, in north side, Belize City. Twenty-eight-year-old Quency Gentle was on his way to his house on Wilson Street, when he was cornered by a gunman near the junction of Kelly and Matron Roberts Streets. He was shot to the abdomen and chest and rushed to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. Less than an hour later, Quency succumbed to his injuries around eleven-forty-five p.m.

Alejandro Cowo

ASP Alejandro Cowo, O.C., C.I.B., Belize City

“Police responded to a shooting incident at Kelly Street where they visited the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital and they observed a male person, Quency Gentle, with apparent gunshot wound to the chest and to the stomach area. He was admitted in a critical condition and succumbed to his injuries while receiving treatment sometime just before midnight. The information that police has gathered so far is that he was walking from Simon Lamb Street into Kelly Street when reaching almost at the junction with Matron Roberts, he was approached by a male person who fired several shots in his direction, causing the fatal injuries to him.”

Voice of: Kaylani Gentle, Sister of Murder Victim

“When I came this morning, my mother told me that last night at 11:41, my bredda had succumbed to his injuries. The thing is that my bredda dah noh troublesome person. I know ih hang with other guys that are gang related and thing, but he neva did kill nobody. It’s very shocking and heartbreaking to know that my brother was running and fighting for his life. But like what I say, God is not sleeping.”

But is the motive related to the ongoing gang war on the north side of Belize City?

ASP Alejandro Cowo

“The information that we have gathered so far it is pointing to a direction that it has to do some involvement with previous shootings that had happened in that same area there.”

Reporter

“Is this person affiliated with PIV or Pinks Alley or….?”

ASP Alejandro Cowo

“It is said that he belongs to one of the gangs on that side.”

Police say that he has been in police custody for misdemeanors, but not for gang-related incidents. And Quency’s sister, Kaylani Gentle, confirms this. She says that the murder has devastated the family because this is her second brother that has been killed in less than two years. Her older brother, thirty-one-year-old Giovanni Gentle was shot and killed in the vicinity of the Loyal Endeavour Lodge on Regent Street West in the early hours of July second 2016.

Giovanni Gentle

Voice of: Kaylani Gentle

“My other bredda get ambushed and killed. The first one get ambushed and killed on Regent Street; he dah mi Giovanni Gentle. We have to get justice because my bredda dah noh wah dog weh yo just shot and kill down or wah animal. He has family that do love him and do care for him. But like weh I say, it very hurt to see that my other bredda gone just like that. But like I say, God is not sleeping.”

No one has been detained for this shooting, but News Five understands that surveillance footage in the area is being reviewed by the police as the investigation into this latest homicide continues. Duane Moody for News Five.