…While 2 murdered in the Old Capital

patrick kerr

In the Old Capital, where the number of murders is the highest, two men were fatally shot. Patrick Kerr was a regular on the streets and in the courts. His past misdeeds came back to haunt him when his life was taken within hours of Christmas. On Boxing Day, a Nigerian who had just moved to Belize, and who earned his living as a taxi driver was found dead in his vehicle. News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports on the two homicides.

Isani Cayetano, Reporting

The echo of gunshots a little after seven o’clock on Friday night sent patrons of a barbershop on Freetown Road scrambling for safety.  A number of young men including thirty-two year old Patrick Kerr were outside the small business awaiting their turn in the barber’s chair when a hail of bullets was unleashed in their direction.  When the smoke cleared Kerr, a laborer of Lavender Street and no stranger to gun violence, laid gravely injured on the verandah of a nearby food stall.  Like many of Belize City’s youth the events of his troubled past inevitably caught up with him.

Bernadine Stevens, Mother of Patrick Kerr

“Da mih just ih time you know and ih mih ease up wid all di crime and ting but then yoh just cyant, once yoh mek wah deal wid di devil yoh just cyant give een if you noh give your to God, right.  Yoh just cyant give een like that cause then di devil want your soul now.”

While the devil may have wanted Kerr’s soul his enemies simply wanted to settle an old score.  It is uncertain what transpired before the shooting but the retribution was merciless.  The last conversation Kerr had with his mother was a few hours earlier when he told her that he planned to visit his children.

Bernadine Stevens

“Ih say ih mih gwein by ih kids dehn and soh, you know, so I mih dih tell ahn Patrick yoh could just stay home and drink with yoh bredda dehn because pan dehn Twenty-Fourth night dah then di enemy dehn meet yoh, right and do yoh whatever.  Ih neva mih di pay me no mind ih still wahn go geh da lee haircut.”

As Kerr and an associate of his sat on the railing of the verandah facing the Special Education Unit a lone gunman blindsided them and opened fire.  While the other escaped unscathed Kerr was hit multiple times to the inner right foot, the left forearm, and twice to the chest.

bernadine stevens

Bernadine Stevens

“Ih aunt call and say Patrick Kerr geh, go check cause Patrick suppose to geh shot.  So when I come by dih hospital yah I mih haftu wait noh ‘til ‘bout 10:40 p.m. or so then di docta dehn come out and say ih passed away.”

Across town less than thirty-six hours later police had once again been called to the scene of another shooting incident behind the Lord Ridge Cemetery on Pitter Street.  This time the lifeless body of Francis Chukwu was found slumped in the front passenger seat of his vehicle.

francis chukwu

The Nigerian grocer and part-time cab driver who had been residing in Belize City for the past two and a half years had been shot once to the head.  These tire marks suggest that his vehicle may have skidded speedily when it came to a halt.  Initial police investigations are that shortly before three o’clock on the morning of December twenty-sixth residents reported hearing a single blast similar to that of a gunshot.  The motive for Chukwu’s murder remains unclear.  Earlier that night he took his three children to B.T.L. Park and had returned home on Neal’s Pen Road to drop them off before heading out again.  His family, for fear of their lives, wished not to appear on camera, but we understand that the entire Nigerian community in Belize is mourning the loss.

While Chukwu’s family are seeking answers to this latest urban mystery Bernadine Stevens, whose son Patrick was taken out execution-style on Christmas Eve, admits that he wasn’t exactly a model citizen.

Bernadine Stevens

“Patrick Kerr dah neva no saint, right.  Ih do wah lotta ting eena ih past and ting but ih gah lotta enemy noh.  Ih got lot weh love ahn to and da wah lee hero fi most people; most guys whateva friend and ting.”

His house which sits on the edge of the Belize River across from Belize Mills is decorated with a black bow.  Like other grieving families Kerr’s is not seeking revenge instead his mother is offering her prayers to the family of his killer.  In September of 2008 Kerr along with an accomplice were both shot during a foiled carjacking in front of Archie’s Restaurant on Central American Boulevard.  In that incident he was hit in the leg, knee and upper back. Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.

In both cases, police are looking for the gunmen.