Dudu Cherrington is Executed in Gang Flare Up in Gungulung

Dwayne "Dudu" Cherrington

The Belize Police Department is working overtime to mitigate a spike in gun violence in the Lake Independence area which has claimed three lives since Monday.  As you’ve heard, a cab driver was gunned down a few hours ago as he drove along Mahogany Street.  Around nine o’clock on Tuesday night, Dwayne Cherrington had just arrived at his common-law wife’s home in Gungulung when a trio of men pounced on him with lethal force.  The thirty-two-year-old who grew up on Flamboyant Street was shot and killed in what appears to be a reprisal for a recent murder.  Police say it is all gang-related.  News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports.

Isani Cayetano, Reporting

A longstanding rivalry between two groups in Lake Independence may be the motive behind the gangland execution of a thirty-two-year-old Belize City resident on Tuesday night on M&Y Street.  It is not to suggest that he was part of the ongoing feud, however, it is believed that the death Dwayne Cherrington may be retaliation for a murder that occurred several blocks away just the night before.  He was at his common-law wife’s home in the Gungulung community when he was attacked by a trio of men.

Indira Cayetano

Indira Cayetano, Sister of Deceased

“Little like before nine, I mih just reach home and I mi di socialize with some ah my friend dehn.  I walk eena my room, jump pan my bed and then I hyah gunshots ring out and I seh, I hope da noh my bredda, dat dah di first thing because we noh live nowhere far from one another.  And like as I say that, his girlfriend called.  I mi very hesitant fi pick up because I done know ih mi wahn seh either “yoh bredda dead or dehn shot ahn and wih di ker ahn, we noh know what da di condition.”  When I pick up di phone, ih seh dehn just shoot up yoh bredda; yoh bredda dead.”

Commissioner of Police Chester Williams addressed the media this afternoon in the wake of the shooting incidents.

Reporter

“In terms of the ongoing or the resurgence of gang violence in the Holy Emmanuel Street area, the Gungulung area of Belize City, who are the players involved in that particular rivalry and is that rivalry responsible for those shootings that we saw last evening?”

Chester Williams

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“I am not going to answer that.  I think M. Jules Vasquez has said PIV and BLC and that is where I am going to leave it.”

Reporter

“So is it believed that those shootings that took place last evening were as a result of that ongoing rivalry?”

Chester Williams

“Those are the two gangs who are going at each other in the St. Martin’s area.”

According to Indira Cayetano, her brother was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time.  Persons wanting to avenge the previous murder from the night before may have simply waylaid him, knowing that he was from a rival neighborhood.

Indira Cayetano

“Why unu kill somebody weh noh fass with nobody, weh noh trouble nobody, da family man, you know.  But this takes me back to when dehn mi shoot my bredda front ah Dream Like City.  Always at the wrong place at the wrong time, but I think this time he was the intended target because of a so-called, you know, gang which in my bredda da noh no part ah no gang.  I could seh dat, I could put my head pan di block and seh my bredda da noh dehn type a person deh.  My bredda da all fi ih two girls and you know, when yoh sih my bredda yoh sih his two girls.  If yoh noh sih my bredda, yoh wahn sih ahn with ih girlfriend.”

And wanting to be with his girlfriend is what had him in Gungulung last night, despite the fact that he was far away from home.

Isani Cayetano

“You guys are from one particular neighborhood which has been labeled as a gang territory.  Where your brother was shot and killed last night is in a totally different neighborhood which many would say is in rival territory.  Can you explain to me what had him there?”

Indira Cayetano

“The reason my bredda was there was because of his common-law wife, you know.  Dah noh like if she noh try with my bredda, you know.  I keep on telling her since last night, noh blame yohself, you know.  Noh blame yohself for it, yoh try, we know yoh try, you know.  But my bredda, when he love somebody, he love somebody, you know.  When he deh with somebody, he wahn go da extra mile, he wahn go da extra way even if that means ih cost his life, weh I sih last night, he did that and dah wahn love story with wahn bad ending weh dehn do, wahn family weh just di grow, yoh know.”

Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.