City’s Fifth Murder in 5 Days; Construction Worker Gunned Down on Dolphin Street

Carl Tristan Coc

The unrelenting spate of gun violence in the Old Capital since last Saturday continues, as we open our newscast tonight with coverage of yet another murder.  On Wednesday evening, a construction worker and his colleague became the latest victims of an armed assault as they walked along Dolphin Street sometime around six o’clock.  Carl Tristan Coc and Gian Michael Moro were together as they left their place of work near Maud Williams High School.  During the heavy showers, the duo would also come under a shower of bullets from a gunman who is yet to be identified.  Tragically, twenty-one-year-old Coc would not survive the callous attack.  News Five’s Isani Cayetano has the following story.

Isani Cayetano, Reporting

In the thunderstorm and downpour that blanketed the city on Wednesday evening, two persons were severely injured just a few blocks away from the Raccoon Street Police Station.  The pair of young men had left the jobsite at Maud Williams High School on Dolphin Street when they came under attack by an unknown assailant.  The outcome for one of the construction workers was fatal, making it the second murder in six hours.

Alejandro Cowo

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

“The second shooting happened just when the rain was hitting us here in the city.  Police responded to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, it was just after six and upon arrival there they saw two male persons with gunshot injuries to their bodies.  The first male person was learned to be Gian Michael Moro, a Benque Viejo construction worker, who is presently working at a construction site here in Belize City.  He had an apparent gunshot wound to the right side of the hip and a graze to the left side of his neck.  Also, police observed another male person by the name of Carl Tristan Coc who had an apparent gunshot wound to the neck and to the lower part of his body.  Unfortunately, he succumbed to his injuries while receiving treatment at the hospital.”

Sheltering from the heavy rains, several persons stood under a nearby bus shed.  Among them would be a first responder who came to the aid of one of the injured victims.

Voice of: First Responder

“We were sheltering from the rain because it was raining very heavy and we were there while it was raining and then it was thundering and then we heard a gunshot.  We only heard one.  After the gunshot, across the street by the Atlantic [Bank] ATM, I saw three ladies and they were running under the rain and I was wondering, why were they running.  Then like about five seconds after that then the guy that was shot came and stood right beside us and that’s when we noticed that he was shot.  So we were there and we said we needed to call a taxi and so, since I was the first person in line I started to get attention from a taxi.  And, in less than five seconds we got a taxi and the taxi stopped by and then luckily there was an officer and then the officer came out from the vehicle and he was the one who picked up the guy because he was nearly fainting, because he was very weak.”

According to Assistant Superintendent Alejandro Cowo, the laborers left their post momentarily and walked down Dolphin Street to make a purchase at a shop when they were met by a lone gunman.

ASP Alejandro Cowo

“What we have gathered so far is that both of them are construction workers who were working here at the Maud Williams compound in the construction of the building and they had just left from there to go and purchase some items at a nearby Chinese store at the corner of Gibnut Street and Dolphin Street when they were approached by a male person who just fired several shots in their direction which caused the fatal injuries and injuring the other male person.”

The responder, whose identity we will withhold, described observing the gravely injured youth approaching the bus shed.

Voice of: First Responder

“Actually when he lifted him up, we had to throw him inside because he was so weak.  He was like about to collapse and then the taxi just rushed him to the hospital I guess.  So I don’t know what happened after that.”

Isani Cayetano

“Describe to us what specifically you saw when this shooting victim came under the shed where you guys were sheltering.  I understand he was holding his chest.  Describe for us that particular image.”

Voice of: First Responder

“He came, he didn’t come running fast, he came at a slow pace.  He was like something was hurting him and he had his both hands holding his chest area where his heart and I noticed that blood was pouring from both hands.  So you could see blood coming and so I assumed that it was the heart, that he was shot there.”

But Coc would not survive his injuries; he passed away at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital while undergoing emergency medical attention.  His co-worker Gian Michael Moro remains hospitalized at the K.H.M.H. Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.