Woman Fatally Shot, Cousin Hospitalized after Being Stabbed in Griga
Geraldine Flowers
A woman was shot and killed early on Sunday morning in Dangriga, purportedly as a result of jealousy. Geraldine Flowers was inside her house in the New Site area when her ex-boyfriend, Rodwell Arzu, arrived and fatally shot her. Also in the house was Samuel Reid, a cousin of Flowers; he was shot and stabbed and remains hospitalized. Neighbours say that there was a history of domestic abuse in the relationship between Flowers and Arzu. Flowers had recently relocated to Dangriga where her life was cut short. Tonight, police are looking for Arzu, who was once charged with aggravated assault of Flowers, but the charge was withdrawn. News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports.
Voice of: Neighbor 1
“It was like a repeated thing, every weekend they would be there arguing and fighting for like hours.”
Voice of: Neighbor 2
“Every Sunday mawnin, cause normally Sunday I deh home. Every Sunday mawnin dat da weh wake me up, dehn arguments, you know, cause since the way how di room situated, dah dehn arguments eena di room, ah get up to dat.”
Isani Cayetano, Reporting
A history of domestic abuse, verbal and physical, may have been the reason behind a deadly encounter in the New Site area of Dangriga on Sunday morning. Neighbors were startled by the sound of gunshots coming from a next door bungalow. Inside at the time were forty-one-year-old Geraldine Flowers and a friend of hers who was asleep in an adjacent bedroom.
Voice of: Neighbor 1
“I was asleep at around 5:30 a.m. on Sunday morning. I heard three shots and that was what woke me up, and I lay down back to sleep and shortly after I heard four more shots, so I got up, opened my window and I saw a green vehicle outside of my neighbor’s yard and the vehicle sped off and then when I looked over to the house I saw the burglar-barred door open.”
A phone call was immediately placed to the police station, while another ventured towards the property to find out what had just taken place.
Voice of: Neighbor 2
“My son come outside fu look just around the house fu sih if he sih anything and soh he walk up di street and he seh when he walk up di street, he look up pan da side and he saw di neighbor burglar bars open and he come back da di house running and he seh call di police because somebody di holla fi help outta di house.”
According to Flowers’ neighbors, Dangriga police were prompt in their response.
Voice of: Neighbor 1
“Within five minutes time they responded and when they got there they entered the yard, well I saw from my house that they entered the yard and when they entered the yard, it was at that point that they found the young man, a young man by the doorway bleeding and they later entered the house itself and they found the young lady. I heard that she was laying down on the bed face down, apparently dead.”
Samuel Reid
Inside the residence at the time of the attack was thirty-six-year-old Samuel Reid, a resident of Belize City, who was reportedly visiting. Investigators say he was viciously stabbed by Flowers’ former boyfriend who has since been identified as Rodwell Arzu. News Five understands that Arzu was allowed entry into the house after which he got into an altercation with Flowers and that’s when the shooting began. A struggle then later ensued between Arzu and Reid inside the living room at which point Arzu got hold of a knife and inflicted multiple injuries to Reid‘s body. Neighbors say that Flowers recently moved to Dangriga and that, for the most part, she kept to herself.
Voice of: Neighbor 2
“Ah noh really know her to talk to, da just hi and bye, mawnin, good evening, you know, because she mi recently move. A cyant really tell you how long, ih recently move eena di neighborhood. So da neva somebody weh I woulda have wahn conversation with but just neighborly, hi and good morning and that’s it.”
Rodwell Arzu
Voice of: Neighbor 1
“I don’t really know anything about her, all I could say is that she moved into the neighborhood around like six or seven months ago and she basically kept to herself. We never spoke, we never said hi or anything like that, it was just, she just, as far as I know, she just lived next door to me.”
Isani Cayetano
“Can you say if, to the best of your knowledge, there was a history of any kind of violence or any altercations that took place there?”
Voice of: Neighbor 1
“Well yeah, they always, they have always had their domestic problems. Last week Monday, like before day, like two o’clock in the morning, they were fighting from there. That was what woke me up again because they were fighting and shortly after the fight he left and I didn’t see him at the house for the entire week until I saw the vehicle outside on Sunday morning.”
Police are looking for thirty-eight-year-old Rodwell Arzu, a resident of Independence Village. Retrieved from the scene of the incident seven expended shells and two live rounds of point thirty-eight ammunition. Meanwhile, Reid has since been transported to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.
