Old beef; the cause of many deaths in Belize including Raymond “Killa” Gentle

Raymond “Killa” Gentle, the reputed boss of Kraal Road was gunned down at a construction site in a congested neighborhood where at least twenty children reside. There had been previous attempts on his life, but on Wednesday afternoon, he did not survive the hail of bullets that hit him on the chest.  He was rushed to the hospital for medical attention but soon died. One person was picked up today for questioning; that suspect has already beaten a murder charge and is believed to be from the George Street Gang. “Killa” was well on his way to cleaning up his act and today News Five’s Isani Cayetano found the neighborhood eerily quiet.

Isani Cayetano, Reporting

The vicious slaying of thirty-five year old Raymond Gentle as he constructed a wooden house near the corners of Kraal and Fabers Roads on Wednesday has plunged residents of this crime ridden neighborhood into complete silence.  While mum is the word on the street the Crimes Investigation Branch of the police department is tonight occupied with pursuing leads to solve the late afternoon shooting.  By most accounts ‘Killa’, as he was popularly known, was making great strides in turning his life around but like other street bosses before him the sins of his past eventually came knocking at his door.

Anthony “Boots” Martinez, Area Representative, Port Loyola

“Raymond had made a huge transformation in his life, have been dealing with sporting activity of which you know that I had lent them, the people of Kraal Road and the team of Kraal Road, City Boys, a great hand in terms of making sure that their sponsorship stands until they reach the championship.”

The demise of Raymond ‘Killa’ Gentle mirrors that of George ‘Junie Balls’ McKenzie in August, 2007.  Both gang leaders were gunned down in similar fashion within close proximity of their stomping grounds.  The two also shared a passion for football, using the sport as a means of empowering those around them.

Raymond “Killa” Gentle

Raymond ‘Killa’ Gentle (File: April 1^st, 2008)

“I have wah football team right now, Forever Strong Kraal Road Football Team, partly managed by me and Norman “Tilliman” Nunez, manage the team right through the season, never get help from nobody. Far as I know we noh get help by nobody. We come outta di season eena debts. Nobody come and help and seh yeah boy I like si weh Kraal Road di do and I like see how Killa deh pan T.V. or score wah goal or whatever. This happen per week and no wah day you hear pan di talk show somebody give wah credit and seh well we like si weh Kraal Road di do and we like si how they di hold down from dat crime world and play football and hold deh peace.”

Gentle, himself no stranger to the law also shared insight with the media on a range of social issues, most notably his views on capital punishment.

Raymond ‘Killa’ Gentle (File: April 1^st, 2008)

“Eena dis time now dat the crime rate get high most ah di time when yoh di hear pan di airwave weh da di solution fi deal with deh murders da Belize most people holler hang deh hang deh. But dat can’t be di solution because when deh youths hear bout hang deh just laugh cause deh alone out deh with wah gun da like suicidal. If deh dead out deh with deh gun eena deh hand dat dah weh deh choose fi do so hanging doesn’t matter. Deh youth ready fi dead before ih reach to hang. Understand? So wi have to find wah different solution fi dis thing bout hang, hang. I feel like they have to find sensible job fi di youths weh deh could mek wah lee twofifty, three hundred eena deh pocket and work through each neighbourhood.”

Offering Gentle and his associates that opportunity was longtime friend, Port Loyola area representative and Minister of Works, Anthony ‘Boots’ Martinez.

Anthony “Boots” Martinez

“Mr. Gentle had been employing about twenty-two people from around the area.  Part of the concern is where [do] we go from here?  Well I think where we go from here is to continue to afford the opportunity for the people in the area.  I think that they always say two wrong don’t make a right.  I have been talking with residents and the people from around the area but what is so disturbing, not only with him, if you look in this yard we have about twenty children living here.  How could anybody be so cold calculated and careless?”

That individual let loose a shower of bullets hitting Gentle multiple times in the torso.

anthony "boots" martinez

Voice of: Resident

“I saw when somebody said that somebody got shot in my yard and when I looked out I saw the young man lying and that’s when I knew it was gunshot and da then I closed my window and my door and I went inside.  Then afterwards they some people carried the body I noh know if ih dead or alive and afterwards I heard that he died.”

That final bid on Killa’s life proved successful as he had survived previous shootings including an attempt to keep him from testifying in court in June 2006 which preceded a deadly grenade attack two years later.

Raymond ‘Killa’ Gentle (File: June 2^nd, 2006)

“By the time I could reach by my vehicle, I heard my wife the holler at me, the bawl out my name and by the time I could really see the what she want, the lone gunshot I the heard. And then I realized that I get shot in my stomach, some part of the right side of my body. I got on a white t-shirt and when I look down on myself I see blood stain. I still had strength in me. I just get excited and I run.”

This time Gentle could not flee his assailant and succumbed to his injuries shortly after being transported to the KHMH.  Reporting for News five, I am Isani Cayetano.

In a detailed press release, police say “Suspects for Gentle’s murder are believed to be members of the George Street Gang.   There is an ongoing rivalry between members of the George Street Bloods/Gill Street Gang and members of the Kraal Road Crips and Southside gangsters (SSG).” Police are on alert following the murder and are not ruling out retaliation.