Two dead, thirteen injured in gang shooting sprees
Belize City is no stranger to gang violence but in the wee hours of Saturday morning that cycle of murder and fatal retaliation reached a new level of insanity that left two dead and thirteen wounded. It also left a community, already wary of going out at night, locked down in fear. News Five’s Marion Ali has the story.
Marion Ali, Reporting
These blood stains on the Belcan Bridge tell the sad story of what transpired around three o’clock on Saturday morning as a group of four people walked home from the Putt Putt Bar and Grill on Newtown Barracks.
Seventeen year old Michelle Cattouse was among the group walking home and when someone from a dark coloured car pulled up and opened fire on them. Cattouse was hit in the chest and died within minutes. Police believe the occurrence was triggered from an earlier fatal shooting at Putt Putt where Cattouse and the group were partying.
Asst. Compol Allen Whylie, O.C., Eastern Division
“A group of persons from the George Street area were socialising at the Putt Putt Bar and Grill during which, a group from the Brick City, St. Martin de Porres area were seen passing in front of the said nightclub, some of whom were later seen going behind the establishment. Shortly after, several shots were fired from the rear portion of the establishment compound in the direction of the group from George Street causing the said injuries to the said person. A police officer who was at the night club took out his licensed firearm and fired several shots in the direction of the gunmen which caused them to cease and run off by over the fence situated to the rear of the compound.”
Sr. Supt. Chester Williams, O.C., Eastern Divion
“We have received certain information in terms of hits being placed out on certain individuals but I guess that you would agree with me that this is not the floor for us to say names as to who these hits are made at. Police are looking at those information and we are targeting them from a proactive perspective. Like Mr. Whylie had mentioned, we have increased our presence so as not to have any further spill over between these two groups. We are also looking at the intelligence driven operation. We have the C.I.U. and the Special Branch personnels who are out daily gathering information. Those information are then brought and analysed after which we act on them.”
During the shooting spree at the Putt Putt, nineteen year old Deandra Zetina who had just returned to her part time job as bartender, was struck in the back. She died moments later. Zetina was one of nine others shot during the mayhem. Police believe it was while the crowd that had dispersed from the nightspot were heading home that they were targeted for their affiliation with the Lake Independence group.
Sr. Supt. Chester Williams
“Those persons who were shot on Belcan Bridge were associates or were associated with those persons from the “Back a Town” area—Brick City area—and they were shot whilst on their way from Putt Putt after the incident had occurred. So in retaliation, the group from George Street may have passed by and sighted them, know their affiliation and as a result of that they shot at them.”
But the madness did not end there as a third shooting at around four fifteen on Saturday morning on Raccoon Street Extension might have also been related to the previous two.
Asst. Compol Allen Whylie
“Again on the same date police visited Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital trauma room where one Linton Broaster of a Neal’s Pen Road address was seen with a gunshot wound to the left side of the chest and one to the right buttocks. Our initial investigation then revealed that Broaster was on Raccoon Street extension in the company of one Cecilio Madrill and Robert Wagner when they were approached by one Leroy Ramsey who is an associate of the George Street group with whom they had a previous misunderstanding earlier in the Princess compound. Ramsey pulled out a firearm from his pants waist and fired shots at broaster which caused his injuries and also fired shots at Madrill which missed”
Sr. Supt. Chester Williams
“That person was also coming from Putt Putt and that person is associated with the other group and again the person from George Street who is affiliated with George Street shot that person likewise.”
That injured person is sixteen year old Linten Broaster who at the time was with two friends when a man with whom he had had a previous conflict that same morning shot him three times in the chest and abdomen. Broaster is in serious but stable condition.
The shootings have left the parents of both victims in shock and the proprietor of Putt Putt, Orson Elrington, at a loss for words.
Bernadine Cattouse, Mother of Michelle Cattouse
“She said she was going to bash as young people usually say and she leave my home and she went and from there the only time I see her—I did see her after that because I don’t even gone to the morgue to see her body as yet because I can’t take it right. So … they told me that she was on Belcan Bridge coming home from Putt Putt and that was when some guys in a car came up and start to shoot.”
Marion Ali
“Considering her tender age does she normally go out to night clubs at the age of seventeen and party or this was just one of the very few occasions when she did?”
Bernadine Cattouse
“Well, she usually do but not on all occasions. She usually go when her mind feels for her to go.”
Marion Ali
“You didn’t have a problem with that?”
Bernadine Cattouse
“Well, I had a problem but you know all teenagers, if you have a problem with them they won’t stop. So you just have to, you know, because I have times whenever she wants to go out me and she get into argument and stuff and end up telling her things that I don’t like and then she goes still. So I can’t—if could have stopped her from getting killed, I would have stopped her”
Clarine Young, Grandmother, Deandra Zetina
“I di try hold up yo know because then I have pressure, I have sugar, I have arthritis but then everybody just can’t get run down. Somebody have to hold up yo undastand mi? so with that—and I know want di stress or fi seh ball or go off because then maybe my pressure fly right up da top then yo know. So with that you have to give God the greater part cause then if we just fly up and fly up maybe when yo look more come. So you have to give God and just pray over it.”
Orson Elrington, Proprietor, Putt Putt
“It’s a total tragedy. I think that everyone in Belize, everyone in Belize the city, everyone all over feels this tragedy as it was so senseless, so cowardly. And I just want to condemn it in the most. I can’t imagine this feel. When I got the call I, I thought that I was in a nightmare and all day basically, you know, from since the event happened, probably three four hours of sleep since then. But constantly hoping that it’s a nightmare and we gonna wake up from it sometime soon”
This afternoon Roy Felix Bennett was formally charged with the murder of seventeen year old Michelle Cattouse and four counts of attempted murder, while Jason King and Charles Moss were charged for the murder of nineteen year old Deandra Zetina and nine counts of attempted murder. Police say both King and Moss were intercepted on Jasmine Street in a vehicle from which King was seen throwing a bag which contained two loaded nine millimetre pistols linked to the Putt Putt shooting. A magazine matching one of the weapons was also found in one of King’s pockets and a mask. King has additionally been charged with keeping an unlicensed firearm and unlicensed ammunition.
Reporting for News Five, Marion Ali.
Those injured at the Putt Putt Bar include: Philip Neal, Marvin Robinson, Eddison Flowers, Gilbert Pascacio, Vincent Galvez, Christopher Galvez, Jermyn Galvez, Kenroy Tillett and Dale Moody. The others injured in the Belcan Bridge shooting are: nineteen year old Tarique Bowden, twenty-six year old Cyril Jones and seventeen year old Delarose Puerto. Of the thirteen people injured, four remain hospitalised.
A warrant has been issued for the arrest of Leroy Ramsey for the shooting of Linten Broaster. During this morning’s news conference Senior Superintendent Allen Whylie said police have also made strides toward solving other recent murders and needed the public’s help in apprehending the wanted men. In connection with the murder of Alfred Tillett which occurred last month on Malcolm Street, police are looking for Lindon and Bernard Flowers, and for the murder of Jeremy Gibson police need your assistance to locate Hubert Faber. If you see any of these men please call the nearest police station.
