4 Murders in 5 Hours: Paul Jex, Once Accused, Now Deceased

Paul Jex

The overnight carnage began in San Pedro and within a span of five hours, four persons were murdered and four injured in the madness making Tuesday night, one of the bloodiest nights in the country. We start on the island, where Paul Jex, a reputed street figure who had moved to the island and has beaten a murder rap, was executed at about five-thirty in the evening, shortly after leaving the magistrate’s court. All indications are that Jex and another individual were waylaid by two men who opened fire on them on Crocodile Street in the San Pedrito area. The gunmen then reportedly fled on a boat. News Five’s Isani Cayetano has the following report.

Isani Cayetano, Reporting

The gangland execution of Paul Jex, shot dead on a backstreet in San Pedro, is the kind of poetic justice that no one wishes for, not even upon their worst enemy.  He became infamous in May 2010, after being charged for the murder of thirty-year-old Aubrey Lopez, a secondary school teacher and son of former Belmopan Mayor Simeon Lopez.

Simeon Lopez

Simeon Lopez, Father of Deceased [File: February 13^th, 2014]

“If I believe that justice did not take its course here physically, I know that it will be served someday. Justice will be served someday, not by me, not by my family but by a higher power. Me and my family’s only concern was to get the truth and the whole truth. As far as we now know we will never know who killed Aubrey and why.”

Despite being acquitted of that charge almost four years later, Jex had already made his name as a known affiliate of one of the most feared criminal organizations in the country.  In fact, he was believed to have been involved in several high profile crimes, including another murder on Ambergris Caye, but was never convicted.  Since then, he has been back and forth between Belize City and San Pedro.  On Tuesday evening, fate caught up with him in a most cruel encounter.

Voice of: First Responder

“It was about 5:20, I would say, when I was coming out of my yard, going to do some exercise, when I saw, actually I heard the shots before coming out of the gate, so I told my sister, “This is not pop-shot, this is gunshot.”  And we counted it, it was five.  So we, well actually I came out and when I went on the street which was right in front of my gate, there I saw this guy laying down in the street in a pool of blood.”

Jex had been fatally shot in the head.  Another person who was in his company was also injured.  The first responder to the scene of the deadly shooting did not observe anyone else in the immediate vicinity; however, she learned from others that a second victim had taken off on foot in the direction of Swan Street.

Voice of: First Responder

“No, I didn’t see anyone else, but I do understand that whenever the people were gathering, they were saying that the guy went running through town and right by, after this shop, Save On, I would say, that he collapsed and someone took him to the polyclinic.  So I didn’t see the other guy that got shot.”

He has since been identified as Deon Neal.  This morning, the Belize Police Department convened a press brief to discuss this and other overnight incidents across the country.

Alejandro Cowo

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

“Sometime after five p.m., San Pedro police responded to a shooting incident in the San Pedrito area, San Pedro, where upon arrival they visited Crocodile Street where they saw the motionless body of a male person who was later identified as Jimmel Paul Jex, an unemployed laborer of San Mateo Area, San Pedro.  Also, upon making checks at the San Pedro Polyclinic, police also found another male person suffering from an apparent gunshot wound to the body.  This person was learned to be Deon Neal, a security guard of Caye Caulker Village.  So far the information that police has gathered is that both persons were walking on Crocodile Street when they were approached by two male persons, two of them armed with firearms, who set chase after them and fired several shots in their direction, causing the fatal death of Mister Paul Jex and injuring Mister Neal.”

Following the deadly spray of bullets, the attackers reportedly fled by boat from the nearby lagoon.

ASP Alejandro Cowo

“The San Pedro investigation has led to the detention of three male persons and also, police are looking for two more that they believe that can assist us in that investigation.”

Voice of: First Responder

“What happens is that the police they are not realizing is they have a lagoon right next to us and that’s where that boat stopped yesterday.  That’s where those guys came out and shoot this guy and went running back through that lagoon and got in the boat and went off.  That’s what people are saying that saw the move.”

According to investigators, it is believed that the murder of Jex may have been the result of a brewing rivalry among gangs in San Pedro.  He had just left the magistrate’s court moments earlier and was walking along with Neal, who was before the court following a charge of damage to property in Caye Caulker.  Elements of the police force have since been deployed to San Pedro in the event of any reprisals. Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.