2 PIV Gunmen Charged with Firearm Offenses

Kareem Franklin

Thirty-four-year-old Orel Leslie was gunned down in the Yarborough area of Belize City on Sunday night by persons believed to be affiliated with the rival PIV gang.  It is the most recent execution to be carried out among feuding groups in the Old Capital.  In the immediate aftermath of the deadly shooting that ended with the well-known businessman crashing his pickup truck into the fence at Saint John’s Cathedral, police were able to apprehend a pair of men at the roundabout near Pallotti High School.  Those individuals have been identified as twenty-five-year-old Elden Flowers, a resident of Oleander Street, and twenty-seven-year-old Kareem Franklin, a resident of Flamboyant Street.  They were busted with a nine millimeter Glock pistol, along with four live rounds of matching ammunition.  Earlier today, Flowers and Franklin appeared unrepresented in the lower court where they were charged jointly for kept firearm and kept ammunition without a gun license.

Elden Flowers

Back in April of this year, Flowers was acquitted of the November 2019 murder of Richard O’Neil who succumbed to his injuries three weeks after being shot along the Boom/Hattieville Road.  O’Neil, who resided on Ordonez Street in Belize City, was kidnapped and taken to an area along that circuit where he was shot multiple times and left for dead on the shoulder of the road. On Sunday night, Flowers and Franklin were pursued by police officers who intercepted them on a motorcycle as they made their way along Freetown Road at the traffic circle.  Prior to their arrest, a volley of gunshots, including rounds from a forty caliber weapon, as well as a nine millimeter pistol, cut down Leslie as he drove towards his home in the Dickenson Street area.  While Leslie was a known affiliate of the BLC gang or Backa Lands Crips, Flowers and Franklin are members of the rival Peace in the Village or PIV gang.  Flowers and Franklin pleaded not guilty to the charges and due to the nature of the offenses, they were remanded to the Belize Central Prison until October thirtieth 2023.