Police clam up as Salvapan residents allege cover-up in shooting
For a while it seemed like Police Commissioner Ornel Brooks was more like Larry King Live, ready to call in the cameras at a moment’s notice to announce even the smallest victory in the nation’s war on crime. But in recent weeks a good number of the accused criminals have been wearing the uniform of the Belize Police Force … And the once media happy Commissioner has suddenly become camera shy. The latest setback for the image of law enforcement took place on Saturday night when a policeman doing special duty at a dance outside of Belmopan shot a man with his service revolver. Patrick Jones, who first brought the story to viewers last night, has more.
Twenty four hours after the burial of Enrique Alvarenga, the Police Department has refused to respond to questions surrounding his death at the hands of P.C. Javier Alvarez. On Monday, Channel Five aired eyewitness testimony that directly contradicted the official police report of the incident.
That report says “a crowd gathered around the police, including one Enrique Alvarenga … who had a Belikin pint in his hand. P.C. 743 Alvarez then pulled a police .38 service revolver in an effort to fire a warning shot and in the process shot Alvarenga in the head accidentally … Police are carrying out a thorough investigation into the matter.”
To check on how the investigation was going, News Five today called Commissioner of Police Ornel Brooks. An obviously irate Brooks declined to be interviewed and had only the following comment:
“The story came off the way Channel Five wanted. That is fine with me. That’s the end of the story. You did the story without consulting me and that’s the end of that. I gave an interview to Channel Seven, if you want to you can buy a tape from them and see what I had to say.”
And that’s exactly what we tried to do. Channel Seven’s Managing Director Nestor Vasquez had other ideas. For reasons known only to himself, Vasquez would provide neither a tape nor transcript of the Brooks interview. So relying on memory alone, we can only report that in his interview, Brooks stood by Alvarez, reinforcing the impression that the Constable was in fear of his life, surrounded by a crowd of what he called hostile aliens. He supported the “warning shot theory” by pointing to the fact that since the fatal bullet lodged in the bar’s roof, it must have been fired skyward as a warning.
A look at the building’s physical layout, however, shows that the roof in question is only about six feet high and that the bullet, which shot out a light fixture, was traveling almost horizontally when it passed though Alvarenga’s head, hardly the direction of a warning shot. Further interviews with people who saw the shooting reveal clues to what may have provoked the killing.
Q: What state was officer Alvarez in? Was he drinking? Was he drunk?
Angel Morales, Eye Witness
“I thought he was drinking because I saw him with a beer earlier so I think a man, after he takes a couple drinks, he’s not in his five senses again. This officer, when he saw the other one shoot him, he took away his gun and tell him, let’s go from here. So the policeman who shoot him, told him, let?s go to the station to give a report. So the Corporal told him no, we are not into no station, we going, mek we haul we rass. That’s what the Corporal tell the officer.”
As for Alvarenga, villagers paint a far different picture than police.
Eva Gomez, Eye Witness
“He was cool, calm. He was not involved with anyone. He was not interfering with anyone, he was in the corner by himself.”
Q: So Eva, why do you think the police officer shot him in his head?
“He just felt like killing him. He was angry at the other guys, the anger he took out on this young man, who was not causing any problems.”
As for the tell tale Belikin pint that Alvarenga supposedly used to threaten the police, witnesses who attended the dance at Galdamez’s Bar told News Five that the bar does no sell beer in pints, only plastic cups. Patrick Jones, for News Five.
P.C. Alvarez has been charged with manslaughter and interdicted from duty. Commissioner Brooks has not yet called a press conference to discuss the incident.
