Gunman Shoots Raffle-man; Special Constable Shoots Alleged Gunman
Kevin Thomas
Tonight, Kevin Thomas, a popular raffle man, is fighting to stay alive at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital having undergone various rounds of surgery. Thomas was shot multiple times on the head and abdomen while at a Chinese Store in the Yarborough area. His alleged attacker waylaid him before letting loose a volley of bullets. But a special constable would return fire wounding the alleged shooter. Both Thomas and the eighteen-year-old gunman were hospitalized at the K.H.M.H. News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports.
Isani Cayetano, Reporting
Thirty-six-year-old Kevin Thomas is clinging to life at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital after being shot multiple times on Monday night in Belize City. Ironically, his alleged attacker was admitted to ward a short time afterwards, himself suffering from a gunshot wound to the right leg. Sometime around eight o’clock, whilst standing in front of Steven’s Shop on the Yarborough Road, Thomas came under gunfire.
Wilfredo Ferrufino
Insp. Wilfredo Ferrufino, C.I.B., Belize City
“What police understand is that Mr. Thomas was buying at a Chinese Store at the corner of Yarborough Road when a gunman approached him and fired several shots.”
The volley of shots caught the raffle-seller in the abdomen and head. He fell unconscious where he stood, blood pooling beneath him. Thomas’s brother is well-known cyclist Geovanni ‘Froggy’ Leslie. His account of what transpired is identical to the narrative that has been shared with investigators.
Joeavin Leslie
Joeavin Leslie, Brother of Shooting Victim
“I don’t really live with my brother but we’re very close. I just spoke to him about maybe like two hours earlier, he left to go and buy at the local grocery store right around the lane and kinda stopped in and spoke to some of his friends around the lane and after that went to the shop and it was at the shop. While at the shop apparently some guys were circling or were already there waiting to do whatever they were there to do and shot my brother three times, two to the stomach and one to the head.”
The gunman then attempted to flee the scene of the shooting. Eighteen-year-old Shadron Deshawn Gillett, believed to be Thomas’ assailant, did not get far before coming into contact with a special constable who drew down on him with a licensed firearm.
Insp. Wilfredo Ferrufino
“When the suspected shooter was leaving the scene he was encountered by a special constable. That special constable was armed and he fired shots at the suspect. The suspect then fled the area leaving the firearm not too far from the scene. Moments later, about a half an hour later, a male person was transported to the K.H.M.H., one Shadron Gillett, an eighteen-year-old of an Iguana Street Extension address. He was suffering from a gunshot wound to the leg. He is under police guard in the K.H.M.H. in a stable condition.”
In an apparent contradiction, Gillett was interviewed on June twenty-ninth by a fellow teen reporter on News Five. During that brief question and answer session, Gillett discussed the effects of gun violence.
Shadron Gillett
Shadron Gillett, Belize City Resident [File: June 29th, 2018]
“It affects me many ways. Cause you could go to the shop and you noh know weh wah happen. You can’t really di hang out or socialize cause you never know when gunman di come and bullet no got no name, so if the gunman no meet ih wah shoot anybody.”
…and that’s what Leslie strongly believes befell his sibling, perhaps ironically, at the hands of Shadron Gillett.
Joeavin Leslie
“To say the least, I believe that it was just a random act of violence and he randomly got up out of his house to go to the shop, with the intention of going to the shop and coming back home and he was shot by these young guys. These young guys who seems don’t have anything other than killing on their minds.”
Inside the K.H.M.H. moments later, the comatose victim and his alleged attacker, who was also injured while attempting to make good his escape, were placed in adjacent beds inside the emergency room.
Joeavin Leslie
“He later ended up at the hospital, right beside my brother whom he just shot, right. The police kind of were there and moved us out of the way because they said that they didn’t want any retaliation or anything like that, but, you know, my brother made them understand that we’re not that type of people. They just basically put my family in a situation that, you know, we would never imagine that we would be in. Doctors are saying that we should hope for the, we did two surgeries already, one to the stomach and they’re looking, they’re monitoring the bullet which is lodged in his head and they are monitoring and trying to see how they can best deal with that. So I think that there is a next surgery to be done.”
Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.
