Elmore Neal killed by officer who feared for his life

Elmore Neal

While the Duran family claims Matthias died due to police negligence, in Belize City another family is grieving the loss of a loved one who died after he was shot in broad daylight by the cops. The police claim one of their own pulled the trigger in self-defense but the family says Elmore Neal was provoked before his shooting death. News Five’s Jose Sanchez has the two sides on this story.

Jose Sanchez, Reporting

Eighteen year old Elmore Alexander Neal, was shot twice by a police officer at one thirty five on Saturday afternoon. An eyewitness who lives near the scene saw her friend being gunned down by the officer.

Voice of: Eyewitness to Shooting.

“Biggs from up so call fi we lee bwai, we noh know if he gone or not but we si he at di bump. After dat we hear pow and we look. When we look we si Police Pou shot fi we friend, and seh ih mi had a gun. If he had a gun, di gun no mi wah deh far from he. It mi wah wid he or pan he. We get wah statement dat my friend get shot at Caesar Ridge Road. He noh get shot dah Caesar Ridge road, he get shot at Matura Street and Central American Boulevard by di bump. If he had a gun, police Pou noh have no right fi shot ah brutally like dat. If he mi have wah gun, di gun noh mi wah deh wah far distance from ah, ih mi wah deh wid ah.”

The police say that Neal endangered the life of twenty-seven year old Tyrone Thomas and the officer, known as Pou.

Fitzroy Yearwood, Police Public Relations Officer

“Neal was on Central American Boulevard between Faber’s Road and Neal’s Pen road and was he was apparently pointing a weapon at a male person who ran in a yard from him. A police officer who was passing by in his private motor vehicle; his attention was drawn to this, he drove up and instructed Neal to put down the weapon. Instead of putting down the weapon, Neal turned and pointed the weapon at the police officer where he was subsequently shot.”

Jose Sanchez

“The family members are saying that Neal’s body was found a distance away from the gun was found. They are saying he was trying to ride away and they he dropped the gun. They are saying he should not have been killed.”

Fitzroy Yearwood

“I cannot attest to anything they are saying because we know that if it’s your relative, you will look at the easiest and best to make it look like—nobody deserves to be shot, but at the same time you as police officers have to remember the oath to protect life and property. If they instructed him to drop the weapon and the officer is saying that he didn’t and subsequently, he himself believed that his life was being threatened so he had to use justifiable force and that was when he was shot.”

Tiffany Arana

Tiffany Arana, Relative of Elmore Neal

“He was provoked the night before his death by the same person that caused his death. He was provoked again, the day that he died. Like fifteen minutes before his death, the young man from up so was drinking and when he drinks ih like faas wid people. He tell Elmore, ‘come p***y’. Every time ih do dat to dehn bwai round yah. So Saturday ih Elmore ‘come p***y, come p***y’. I noh know weh Elmore mi have in mind fi do but Elmore ride pan di boulevard but he come dis way direct to his house. But I seh di police had no right fi mi shot him, kill him like that, wah brutal death like dat. Dehn trained fi shoot man inna di foot; noh fi kill dehn.”

Jose Sanchez

They found an LR Ross brand .22 caliber gun with Neal. Did Neal have a valid gun license?

Fitzroy Yearwood

“Well, we made checks and he is not the holder of a valid firearm license. He had no reason to have a firearm.”

Jose Sanchez

“The nine millimeter weapon that the officer, had in his possession, was it a police issued weapon?”

Fitzroy Yearwood

“Well, I’m not at liberty to state whether it was police issue or his personal firearm because I haven’t investigated into that and it was not revealed in the official report.”

Neal’s mother wants justice.

Sarita Lemott, Mother of Elmore Neal

Sarita Lemott

“From ih deh round me I neva see ah wid wah gun yet so I can’t say nothing more dan weh I di tell you. I say I want justice fi mi child because I can’t mek ih life go like wah bird because di police could ah mi consider. Ih shoot him already, ih shouldn’t shoot ah again  Weh he do to my son, I want justice and I need dehn fi help me bury mi son because I noh have nothing to bury him right now.”

A little over six hours after Neal’s death, while standing at the corner of Trinity Street and Central American Boulevard, Tyrone Thomas, the man whom Neal argued with at the time of his death, was shot to the upper portion of his left arm. A police video camera perches over the area of the shootings, but we have been unable to verify if it recorded any of the violence. Reporting for News Five, Jose Sanchez.

According to police reports, at eight o’clock p.m. on Saturday, a man person dressed in black clothing rode up to Tyrone Thomas from the direction of Matura Street on Central American Boulevard.  The man fired several shots, one of which hit Thomas on the arm. He has been treated and released from the K.H.M.H.