Latest murder victim gunned down on West Canal

Last Friday we reported on a grizzly murder in Orange Walk Town, and in tonight’s newscast, there is another homicide to report, this one in Belize City in which a forty-three year old man was gunned down. The motive has still not been ascertained and no arrests have been made up to news time. Marion Ali has a report on the city’s latest murder victim.

Marion Ali, Reporting
The garbage drum covered by the piece of plywood at the back of a yard separating Plues Street and West Canal was the spot where forty-three year old Emerson “Biggy” Faber was gunned down on Friday night. Faber, who lived on West Canal with his common-law wife, Norma Reynaud, had made plans to celebrate Valentine Day with her. But as she told us, those plans never materialized.

Norma Reynaud, Common-Law-Wife, Murder Victim
“Ih call mi eena di evening and ih tell me get dress up cause we gwein out. I ask ah weh wi gwein, ih seh noh worry bout dat just get dress up cause dah Valentine’s. So ih neva come and wah young lady from through yah come round deh from George Street and I ask ah if Bo still deh through di alley and she tell me yes. So I tell ah when yoh go through soh just tell Bo dat I done dress up—which I neva dress up yet fi true. Di lee gial come and from deh wah while ih neva come. So I come round yah and when I come ih di gamble.”

Reynaud says she waited for Faber and eventually he left with her, and promised to go get her rice and beans, but only to return to the same spot where he would later be shot.

Norma Reynaud
“Right back dah di same spot ih gone. So I wait like wah lee ten minutes and wah young man come up same time. I tell di young man lend me yoh phone mek I call Bo quick. When I call I seh maddas babes dah weh you deh pan. Ih seh noh worry bout nothing babes, his seh you wah get yoh beans. Ih seh you wah get yoh Meghan beans, noh worry bout nothing and ih set down. Dat dah di last I hear from ah. Ih noh gone twenty minutes when I hear di lotta shots.”

Marion Ali
“How much shots you hear?”

Norma Reynaud
“Like ten or more shots.”

Faber was hit in the chest and immediately staggered out of the yard onto West Canal where he collapsed while trying to make his way home. His friend, thirty-six year old Calvin “Putta” Nicholas, who was among the group, was also hit in the chest. The shots reportedly came from behind a zinc fence separating the two yards from the direction of Plues Street. Reynaud says Faber had always been joking about how he managed to escape gunshots in the violent neighborhood before. Friday night however, he couldn’t.

Norma Reynaud
“According to weh ah hear, yoh see di fire from dah back weh dehn shot ah. But ih always di give jokes and di demonstrate pan George Street bout when shooting he just duck cause dah noh di first time. So dah big joke next day how he just duck and how he dive and everybody tek it fi big joke when dehn di clown ah and he always got big mouth di give wah lot ah jokes. So ih mi really fi get dah shot. I guess di person weh do it neva know or noh familiar much wid ah cause nobody wah kill Bo from George Street.”

One resident who survived a flurry of gunfire three year ago was one of those who is also tired of the violence. He also barely missed Friday night’s attack.

Voice of Area Resident
“I mi deh out yah before but I gone inside before di shooting.”

Marion Ali
“Normally yoh always deh out yah di sit down.”

Voice of Area Resident
“Yeah, dah right yah I usually sit down because I sleep down yah so I sit down yah. But I get mi cigarette, I get mi lee drink so I seh time fi I go in and I gone in. shortly after, I hear di shot dehn.”

The shooting has left people in the area up in arms and appealing for more police presence.

Grace Flowers, Frequents the Area
“We round yah get enough because di lee bwai dehn come, dehn do simpleness. We noh know weh dehn do out deh and den innocent people get kill di other night. We get enough. Commissioner, whosoever responsible, mek wi deal wid something. I di ask unnu everyday; dah noh only todeh I di seh it. Every time I touch base wid unnu I bring it up dat we need some kinda assurance round yah fi settle dis matter.”

Marion Ali
“Dah your cousin dehn kill dis time?”

Grace Flowers
“Yes, di young man weh dehn kill dah my cousin but ih get kill innocently too cause he dah noh man weh mess round and deh eena dehn stupidness. He dah hardworking man. But we get enough.”

Enough the neighbours say because this was the third time that someone has been killed in the area in recent memory. Reporting for News Five, Marion Ali.

Faber’s friend, Calvin Nicholas did not wish to speak to the media. He remains in a stable condition at the K.H.M.H.