Man Murdered, another Wounded in Easter Monday Shooting in Belize City
A man was shot dead on Monday night in Belize City. The incident happened on Rivero Street in the Port Loyola area and has left a family asking questions and the Police following leads. Here’s News Five’s Marion Ali with the story.
Shaquille Patnett
Marion Ali, Reporting
It’s an all too familiar story – a man leaves the confines of his home and is gunned down on the street, with police trying to crack the case and a family left in mourning. The Easter holidays were not spared of the gun violence. On Monday night, sometime after seven, twenty-five-year-old Shaquille Patnett, a laborer of Rivero Street, left home on a bicycle. Minutes later, while he approached the junction of Kraal Road and Haynes Street, neighbours heard several gunshots. The Police Department’s Communications Director, ASP Fitzroy Yearwood shared what investigators later found out.
ASP Fitzroy Yearwood,
ASP Fitzroy Yearwood, Communications Director, Belize Police Department
“Initial investigation [has] revealed that Patnett was riding a bicycle from the direction of Rivero Street on Kraal Road and upon reaching the junction of Kraal Road and Haynes Street, someone exited a yard and fired several shots at him.”
The critically wounded Patnett lay gasping for breath on the ground. His brother, Stephen Frazer, was there during his final moments.
Voice of: Stephen Frazer
Voice of: Stephen Frazer, Brother of Deceased
“I seh “Bredda, talk to mi, bredda,” and I just squeeze ih mouth [inaudible] ih just tekih last breath and ih ease pahn my hand right yasoh, yeah ih ease ih head [gesturing]and I see ih head dig oh down soh.”
Patnett, whose family says was a musical artist, was pronounced dead on arrival at the K.H.M.H. His sister, Deborah Frazer, still shocked by the incident, said that to the best of their knowledge, her brother did not have any problems with anyone.
Voice of: Deborah Frazer
Voice of: Deborah Frazer, Sister of Deceased
“Nothing that we know – da just like lone jealousy and like people just, yoh know, and he just keep to ihself. He just keep to ihself, he nuh really fool round. Da just jealousy and people nuh like see certain things, yoh know, yeah everybody grow up [together] but something dig oh on, like yoh di try figure out why, yoh know.
Another man, twenty-one-year-old Reheem Williams, who was in the vicinity at the time, also suffered a gunshot wound to his left ankle. ASP Yearwood said that police are following a few leads to answer this question. He added that while investigators were still at the scene, they heard a gunshot blast from the direction of Rivero Street but their pursuit of its origin yielded nothing.
Marion Ali for News Five.
