Public Discharge to Honor William Dawson; ComPol Not Pleased

Last night, we began our newscast by reporting on the shocking death of William Dawson. The now deceased chairman of the Leadership Intervention Unit was known for his unique role in crime fighting in urban Belize and working to mediate with gang leaders, as well as youths behind bars at the Belize Central Prison. While there has been a massive outpour of condolences to the family of the well-known peacemaker, on Wednesday night, shots were fired at the corner of Pelican and Seagull Streets near the family home as a tribute or salute to Dawson. The public discharge of firearms by two licensed holders in honor of Dawson is not sitting well with the leadership of the Belize Police Department. Police officers responded to the scene to recover a number of expended nine millimetre shells. Today, Commissioner of Police Chester Williams says that licensed firearms were retrieved and will be tested to determine who will be held accountable for the public discharge of their weapon. 

Chester Williams

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“While yes it may have been an act of celebration for the life of Mister Dawson, gun violence or those type of activities were not what Mister Dawson stand for. I cannot accept that as a legitimate excuse or reason by those who perpetrated that act yesterday. We have not conclusively identified who the perpetrators are – we have suspects – and, like you rightly said, the suspects we are looking at do have licensed firearm. We have retrieved their licensed firearm and we have also found nine expected nine mm shells on the scene. Those shells have also been collected. Their firearms and the shells will be sent to the National Forensic [Science] Service for examination and once it determines that it was either of their firearms that discharged those expended shells, then such persons will be held to account.”