Man chased and murdered on Orange Street

Police are investigating a murder in Belize City over the weekend which bears a striking resemblance to the murder of Punta Gorda teacher Pio Coc in August. On Saturday night, a wife watched as five men chased her husband and his brother before shooting her husband twice. Like Pio Coc, he also bled to death in the street. Are these murders bizarre coincidences or were they carried out by the same assassins? Today News Five spoke with the wife of the latest murder victim in Belize City.

In a matter of minutes, Glenda Castro’s life turned upside down. On Saturday night, she went out with her common law husband, twenty six-year old, Oscar Perez and his brother, Edwin Perez, to a club on Hydes Lane. They left late, around three-thirty in the morning, and there were no taxis in the area. When they got to the corner of Hydes Lane and North Front Street, five men approached the trio and demanded money. A verbal confrontation ensued and Edwin Perez says one of the men hit his brother in the head. But before the violence could escalate, the Perez brothers and Castro ran away. They ran all the way to Orange Street, heading for their home on East Collet Canal. Castro says as they neared a Chinese shop, she saw the same men they had just run away from.

Glenda Castro, Common-law Wife

“I told him, “see the guys that hit you over there!” And then he said to me, “we can’t go back.” So we continued walking and they approached us and then they came up to him and they hit him. And then I said to the black man, “don’t hit him, don’t you see he’s drunk?” Then he said to me, “you want to get a beating as well?” I said no and then he threw a punch at me but I ducked. Then he shot at my husband who had started running again. I told him, let’s go home but he said no, I’ve been shot.” It was when he bent down that they shot him on his face…”

Edwin Perez says he felt like a trapped man.

Edwin Perez, Seventeen years

“We couldn’t do anything. We couldn’t run. Nothing at all. They didn’t say anything to us. They just shot him twice. They weren’t wearing a mask or anything.”

Oscar Perez was shot twice, once in the corner of his right eye and in his upper chest. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital.

Esmeralda Galstonbury, Family Friend

“He was a quiet person. He’ outgoing and so on. He used to like talking and he always dedicate himself to her, right. That’s all.”

Janelle Chanona

So he was a family man?

Esmeralda Galstonbury

“Yeah. He was a family man yes. He always think about her and her two kids.”

Oscar Perez’s coworker of five years, David Aban, says Oscar Perez was a good friend.

David Aban, Co-worker

“I feel bad.” How long you were working with him? “Five years.” He was a nice guy? “Yeah. Cool cool person.”

Janelle Chanona for News Five.

Glenda Castro says the family is appealing to the general public for financial assistance for the funeral. Oscar Perez leaves behind his mother, a brother and sister, his two children, ages four and two, and his common-law wife of five years, Glenda. Police have detained four men for questioning and are looking for one more. So far no one has been charged. No one has been arrested for either the murder of teacher Pio Coc. He was also walking on Orange Street with his uncle and his wife when they were approached by three men on bicycles who demanded money. They ran and one of the men opened fire hitting Coc, he bled to death on Orange Street.