Rocky Road Affiliate Slain Backa Gungulung

A thirty-two-year-old stevedore of Belize City was executed on Wednesday night. Brian Armstrong spent most of his adult life in prison and according to his family, he had been attempting to reform.  On Wednesday night, however, a second attempt ended the life of the father of one.  Armstrong was gunned down in the Gungulung area where he had recently relocated to with his girlfriend.  Weeks ago, Armstrong was in court where he disclosed his gang affiliation and police are closely looking if his murder is connected to the first attempt on his life. News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports.

Isani Cayetano, Reporting

On June sixth, Brian Armstrong appeared before Senior Magistrate Aretha Ford in Courtroom Number One, where he admitted to being a member of the Rocky Road Bloods, a criminal outfit operating near West Canal in Belize City.  He also confessed during his arraignment that an attempt had been made on his life just a few days earlier.  Tonight, the thirty-two-year-old stevedore is dead and investigators are now trying to determine whether the execution in Gungulung on Wednesday evening was carried out by the same individuals behind the botched attempt several weeks ago.

Voice of: Ziandra Baird, Sister of Deceased

“My sista come eena di house and my sista seh my neighbor tell ahn my bredda get shot.  So I went outside and I ask if da true and my neighbor seh ih no sure.  So when I gaan pan di Facebook and I sih somebody post it and I message the person and I ask dehn weh di person name and then dehn tell me da Brian Armstrong and I tell di person that da my bredda.”

And sure enough, when his siblings and mother arrived on the scene in the CET Site area they observed Brian’s prostrate body near this pipe.  He suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the head and upper back.  His girlfriend with whom he had been living in that neighborhood for the past month or so is still not seen or heard from.

Voice of: Ziandra Baird

“We sih ahn pan di ground and thing.”

Isani Cayetano

“Was the girlfriend around at that time?  Was she already on the scene?”

Voice of: Ziandra Baird

“No, she neva di deh.”

Isani Cayetano

“So how did she come to find out about what happened to Brian?”

Voice of: Ziandra Baird

“Up to now we noh hyah nothing from she.”

According to Armstrong’s sister, who spoke with us off-camera, the family doesn’t know much about his girlfriend.

Voice of: Ziandra Baird

“I know he mi live dah back deh with wahn young lady and dat da all I know, and ih mi di do wahn plastering.  Ih mi di plaster wahn house fi somebody.”

Brian Armstrong

During his confession two months ago to being a member of the Rocky Road gang, Armstrong openly said that he is no longer actively involved in its activities, despite the many tattoos displaying his affiliation. Admittedly, he spent a great deal of his youth locked up in prison.

Voice of: Cousin of Deceased

“He neva enjoy his childhood, right, because he deh da prison from he fourteen.  He come out when he twenty-five or twenty-six.  He mi di try, you know, change and thing and, you know, ih have girlfriends and soh we’re taking it really hard because it’s something that we never expected.  Yes Brian… I wouldn’t tek up fi my cousin, I wouldn’t even seh ih bad either but he dah mi wahn really nice and loving person and fi dehn do ahn dat, come on, dehn noh have no heart.”

Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.