Reputed gang figure wounded in driveby attack
It was in February that twenty-seven year old Clay Monsanto got on national television to ask for peace among the nation’s gang members. That call was prompted by the brutal shooting of his baby boy in a murder attempt meant for him. Monsanto’s call went unnoticed, however, and last night the bullet with his name on it finally found its mark. Police say around 9:00 p.m. a group of men in a white stolen Toyota Camry pulled up at the corner of Central American Boulevard and Ebony Street in Belize City and opened fire on Monsanto, nineteen year old Shawn Alvarez of Mahogany Street and Kendal Robinson, twenty, of Ebony Street. Alvarez was shot in the right armpit and Robinson in the backside, but Monsanto received more severe injuries from two gunshots, one of which entered his upper back. This morning News 5 spoke with his girlfriend Maureen Pascascio, who said she was at home when she received a telephone call with the terrible news.
Maureen Pascascio, Monsanto’s Girlfriend
“I feel trembling over my body, just cold seed and I ran to catch a taxi. When I reach here I saw Clay in the room but I couldn’t enter because of the security system. Afterwards Mr. Cordel Hyde came in and he said to let me go in to see my husband, so I went to see him. He was in too much pain and I asked him, I cried to him and asked him to just try and get over this because I said, “I just lost my son, I can’t lose you again!” I told him it would be hard on me, it will send me to crazy house.”
Ann-Marie Williams
“Did he say what happened? Could he talk to you?”
Maureen Pascascio
“He just said that it’s the guys from George Street that shot him because he saw them. He said, “But I ran. I didn’t drop because if I had fallen they would have killed me. So I ran and ran through so many yards.” He ran and ended up in one of his friend’s yard, “Pointed,” and there he ran and took a cab. He got two shots in his back, and because he ran, the bullets travelled. So when I came to the hospital his belly got bloated, so they had to quickly operate. He was in the theatre for about four hours.”
Ann-Marie Williams
“It’s only been about four months since you lost your son, how are you coping, and to hear this again?”
Maureen Pascascio
“It’s really hard because…from the time I lost my son, that could have sent me to crazy house already, but I had Clay by my side and he helped me, talked to me; we just comforted each other and got over this. Last night when I saw him in that state, I cried and just ask him to get over this, we already lost our son and I can’t afford to lose you ’cause I don’t know what will happen to me.”
Pascascio says Monsanto is in serious but stable condition and is expected to pull through. Police say they have no suspects in custody.
