22-Year-Old Belize City Man Murdered on Elston Kerr Street
Tyrique Gentle
There was a murder in Belize City on Tuesday night. A man in his early twenties was gunned down on south side. While the shooting claimed one life, it has left the residents in the area shaken and traumatized. Reporter Andrea Polanco tells us more in the following story.
Andrea Polanco, Reporting
Tyrique Gentle was shot and killed on Elston Kerr Street in Belize City around eight o’clock on Tuesday night. Gentle was reportedly standing in the yard when a gunman approached another man and fired shots at him. That person ran away from the shooter but a second gunman reportedly came up to Gentle and shot him several times. He tried to get away and ran to the back of the yard – this blood on the ground marks the spot where he collapsed and died. It all happened so fast according to Verla Gordon who is one of tenants at this apartment. She says she didn’t see what happened but the first two gunshots sent her scrambling for cover to protect her four-year-old son.
Verla Gordon, Belize City Resident
“I neva think that something like this mi wah happen last night because I never expect that this mi wah happen at that time. I mi the sit down on the step the socialize with two ah my friends and when I heard the first shot I just tek my baby and throw him inside and crawl inside on my knees weh I mi suh frighten because I neva experience something like this before.”
Andrea Polanco
“What was going through your mind as you heard those shots – what was priority for you at that moment?”
Verla Gordon
“I mi the worry about mi baby – mi baby and mi self and I the holler and tell the lady next to me weh fi she son deh.”
When the shots stopped ringing Gordon says that is when she realized someone had been hit. But she says that she was so shaken up that she didn’t go out to see who it was. Today she says she has no idea who Gentle is or why he was in the area but what she knows is the magnitude of what happened in her yard has left her reeling and afraid.
Verla Gordon
“When I come outside that is when I know that someone got hurt and somebody dead because I see the crowd and see the police and I stand up deh so I neva know weh mi tek place. I mi frighten because it could ah mi happen to anybody. I text my baby pa and he ask weh I mi deh and I tell ah I mi deh inside and this morning I mi the sit down on the step and I mi the cry because I say my baby only four. It could have been my baby get hurt or me.”
Gordon has been living in this apartment for less than five months – but the traumatic and deadly incident is enough for her to find a new place to live. She says that had her baby been playing in the yard like he usually does today could have been a different day for her family.
Verla Gordon
Verla Gordon
“Last night was one night I choose not to make him come downstairs because maybe if he mi come downstairs maybe he would have probably gotten hurt.”
Andrea Polanco
“Does this change the way you hang out in your yard – the way you live?”
Verla Gordon
“Yes, ma’am. I nuh even want sit down on my steps anymore in the evening time or the night time. As dark look fi set it I the look to go inside because I nuh want it could happen again and my baby or me could get hurt. So, I fraid.”
Andrea Polanco
“You think that maybe you would even reconsider moving from here?”
Verla Gordon
“Yes, ma’am. I just the wait. This dah wah open yard where anybody could go through so I nuh wah live yah because I fear for my life and my baby.”
Information to News Five is that the killers got away from the scene in a vehicle. Reporting for News Five, I’m Andrea Polanco.
