Why Was Kurtis Usher’s Gun License Not Revoked?

The murder of thirty-seven-year-old Kurtis Usher that took place nine days ago in Libertad Village sent shockwaves across the relatively peaceful community. Later on we will tell you how the Belize Police Department is working to restore a sense of safety in the community. But first, following the shooting incident, police found a license nine millimeter pistol in Usher’s possession. This discovery has raised eyebrows, because Usher was charged for keeping a firearm and ammunition without the necessary license back in September 2022.  The Leader of the Opposition has publicly criticized the Commissioner of Police for allowing Usher to obtain the said gun license in light of the 2022 charge. But, ComPol Williams says he was not the one who granted the license. He also explained why that gun license was not revoked, when we caught up with him in Corozal today.

Chester Williams

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“We have detained a number of persons and interviewed them, but due to the area where the crime occurred and there were not many witnesses around expect for the wife who may have seen what transpired. She herself is not able to definitively tell us who the shooter is. We are at a stalemate at this time. Nonetheless we continue to conduct interviews to see if we will be able to ascertain who is responsible.”

Reporter

“Mr. Usher was found with a nine millimeter pistol when the incident happened. He was charged with unlicensed ammunition last September but he had a license pistol. What do you have to say about that sir?”

Chester Williams

“Yes indeed, when the police arrived at the scene and he was examined he did have a nine millimeter smith and Wesson pistol licensed to him. And I can say definitively that the license was not issued by me. It was issued in 2013 by the previous commissioner. As the commissioner I don’t have the authority to revoke a license just like that. Certainly I was looking at the progress of the case he had before the court and once he was convicted of that offense where he was charged with keeping an unlicensed firearm then I would have gone for revocation. The act tells you that once you are convicted for a firearm offense it is grounds for revocation. We had not arrived at that stage yet so his license was still with him.”