Deadly Shooting on Curassow Street, Mourner is Executed Ahead of Funeral
A funeral-goer was executed in Belize City on Saturday, moments before boarding a bus that would have transported him and other mourners to a memorial service for their loved one. Giovanni Augustine was standing in front of the Parham residence on Curassow Street when he came under assault from someone he knew. His alleged killer is also a member of the extended family. Investigators are trying to determine what precipitated the deadly attack, but Kareem Beeks has been taken into custody and charged for the weekend execution. Here’s News Five’s Isani Cayetano with that story.
Isani Cayetano, Reporting
Twenty-five-year-old Giovanni Augustine was gunned down on Saturday afternoon, as he stood here, along with his girlfriend, on Curassow Street waiting to board a chartered bus. The couple and several members of the Parham family were getting ready to attend the funeral of his sister-in-law when tragedy struck.
ASP Fitzroy Yearwood
ASP Fitzroy Yearwood, Communications Director, BPD
“Sometime around one p.m., police visited a scene on Curassow Street where a bus was parked, apparently to transport people for a funeral. It is alleged that a fully, heavily tinted white car approached Mr. Augustine. The driver fired several shots at him, fatally injuring him.”
The driver of that vehicle, a Mitsubishi Galant, has been identified as Kareem Beeks. He is no stranger to Augustine. According to a relative who was also there to catch a ride to the cemetery, both men have had issues with each other in the past.
Voice of: Eyewitness
“We are family. I da fi he uncle and da my niece ih mi deh wid, so I da fu he uncle. But otherwise from that, with the problems weh dehn had or whatsoever dehn had and thing, I noh know. I know dehn had a discussion ya already, dat weh di thing name and whatnot, I noh di talk bout no killing or nothing, right. I noh di talk bout no killing, but I know dehn mi had wahn problem and then wahn next problem come up and maybe that da weh cause di problem.”
If a simmering feud between both men was indeed the catalyst that triggered the deadly attack, police have since detained Beeks. They allege that he exited the vehicle, took aim at Augustine, a resident of Biscayne Village, and shot him in cold blood. That account is also corroborated by the eyewitness we spoke with earlier today.
Voice of: Eyewitness
“All di gunshots happened right there, right front ah me.”
Isani Cayetano
“So when he got injured, how many shots on his body did you observe?”
Voice of: Eyewitness
“I cyant recall da shot deh, da lotta shot, but I cyant recall di amount a shot weh happen because when di person come outta di car and [makes gunshot sounds] I was just reaching deh when he call fi me and tell me or ask me if I good or whatsoever.”
Despite the assistance that was rendered at the scene of the shooting, Augustine would not survive the ordeal.
Voice of: Eyewitness
“We mi di help ahn fi get up from affa di ground, di same time di police dehn reach ya.
Isani Cayetano
“Did the police who arrived on the scene set chase after the vehicle or what happened then?”
Voice of: Eyewitness
“No, no, no. Da vehicle mi done take off before, ih mi done take off before di police dehn reach ya. But when di police deh reach ya, me and my next nephew mi di try raise up di man fi noh drop pan ih face.”
Communications Director, Assistant Superintendent Fitzroy Yearwood refutes the notion that there was another person involved in the shooting. Contrary to what has been initially reported, no one else is being charged as an accomplice in this incident.
ASP Fitzroy Yearwood
“We have no proof of anybody else being charged in connection with that murder in particular and it is a fact that Mr. Beeks was charged.”
Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.
