Jerome McLaren is Killed in Front of his Family
Jerome McLaren
He was a former boxing athlete who represented the Jewel internationally, but on Tuesday night, Jerome McLaren was executed in Belize City. The callous murder was carried out in front of McLaren’s mother and other residents from the neighbourhood. Who wanted him dead and why, remains a mystery tonight, but News Five’s Duane Moody went looking for answers.
Duane Moody
Duane Moody
“Just before eight o’clock the youth from the neighbourhood had just concluded playing a basketball game here at this residence on Cleghorn Street when a gunman rode up on a motorcycle, entered the yard and walked up to an unsuspecting twenty-one-year-old Jerome McLaren who was sitting there on that scooter. The gunman unleashed a barrage of bullets at him, ending his life in front of his mother.”
Sharone Cocom, Mother of Deceased
“I hear the cycle pass, the cycle stop by that lamppost and the young man walk into the yard and we just hear shots start to fire and I throw myself back way and lift up my foot cause I noh want nothing ketch me. But not knowing that dah mi my son. And so I run out and when I look, I see dah my son. At this time, the young man had a silver gun about that big, take it and ih stuck it ina ih pants waist.”
Sharone Cocom
Even as she realised that her son was the victim, Sharone Cocom shouted at his killer, as he struggled to escape from the area.
Sharone Cocom
“I stand up ina shock and I dah like, “You shot my son! You shot my son! You kill my son!” At this time, he deh pan the cycle di try start di cycle fi make the cycle go, but the three time ih try start it, the cycle fail ahn. And the last time when ih press fi di cycle go, di cycle gone with ahn. I noh see ih face because ih have on the mask weh dah from yah to yah and ih got on wah red helmet. So I neva see ih face; I only see ih body structure.”
That cycle, we are told, is in police custody. But like the family, police remain perplexed as to why McLaren was targeted.
Alejandro Cowo
Supt. Alejandro Cowo, O.C., C.I.B., Eastern Division
“We have a few incidents with McLaren, but not to that extent that we suspect that he has been involved in other criminal activities.”
Reporter
“Any possible motive in his murder?”
Supt. Alejandro Cowo
“We spoke to different persons that were there and also family members to inquire from them if at any time Mister McLaren had been threatened or anything that he had gone through with anybody in the past days or maybe past a year, but up to now we cannot give you a definite motive as to why he was shot.”
Even as she mourns the death of her son, Cocom is holding strong onto her faith. In forgiving McLaren’s killer, she says that she will look out for him.
Sharone Cocom
“That person weh shot my son take away something good from me. Dehn take weh my pikney. And because dehn take away my pikney, I adopt that person weh shot my son as my son. You dah my son. I know you wah see this later; I just di make you know, you take my son weh God give me and now I wah take you as my son. I wah pray for you just as how I used to pray for Jerome mawning, noon and night. That wah be my job. And if dehn find you, I wah come visit you dah prison. You noh wah take my visitation, but I di come. I noh wah stop until you accept it and talk to me because I forgive you.”
Duane Moody for News Five.
