Another Brannon Murdered
Dondre Brannon
Shots rang out early on Sunday night in Belize City. A nineteen year old whose family is familiar with gun violence, was shot at the corner of Iguana Street and Central American Boulevard. The modus operandi is all too familiar; the assailant rode up on bicycle from behind and delivered the fatal shot to his abdomen. Dondre Brannon was rushed to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital but died while undergoing treatment at nine-thirty five, about an hour after he was shot. News Five’s Isani Cayetano spoke to his grieving father.
Basil Brannon, Father of Deceased
“It’s very, very hard right now. I’m just trying to soak in information, trying not to be angry. [I’m] trying to be very calm but it’s hard. It’s very hard right now to be [calm]. Mein it’s just hard, it’s hard, it’s very hard right now.”
Isani Cayetano
“What are the police saying?”
Basil Brannon
“Not much actually. Not much. They say they’re still doing their investigation and dehn just di pick up pieces. Trying to go on different information that they got but they’re not really telling us anything. No leads, nothing.”
The murder of nineteen year old Dondre Brannon is a tragedy that has become all too familiar to his family. He is the third casualty of gun violence that his father, Basil Brannon, will have to bury.
Basil Brannon
Basil Brannon
“When I got it [the phone call] it was like okay it’s happening to me all over again and the first thing [I asked myself] was like why? Is it that we’re that bad lucked. Is it a curse? What is it? And coming to the hospital I realized that, you know, maybe there might be some good out of this if the youths of today can just say “you know what let’s stop. Let’s just stop. It doesn’t make any sense. Killing each other doesn’t make any sense.” If that happens I can console myself with that. Just mek this be the last killing. Just stop. We need to stop.”
On May 13th, 2006, Basil as well as his brothers Kevin and Phillip Brannon were gunned down inside their parked vehicle in front of their residence on Albert Street West following a Mother’s Day concert at the Belize City Center. He was lucky to have survived that ordeal. His siblings, on the other hand, were not as fortunate. Today he is still trying to accept that his son is yet another victim of homicide. Dondre was fatally shot near the corners of Iguana Street and Central American Boulevard on Sunday night.
Basil Brannon
“Right now it’s still sketchy because we still di try find information of what is going on but what we do know is that he was riding on a bicycle when he got shot. In what direction [and] stuff like that we don’t know as yet.”
Isani Cayetano
“Now my understanding is that he was in the area earlier associating with a group of men. Have you been told the same information or how far along are you in terms of trying to understand what took place?”
Basil Brannon
“[Uhm] we heard that he was hanging out but we also heard that he was taking a bike back to one of his friends when he got shot so we’re still trying to figure out the information to see exactly what [happened], when it happened stuff like that.”
Dondre, it is reported, was riding his bicycle when he was hit by a single round which punctured the right side of his lower abdomen. His assailant, described as a dark complexion male is yet to be identified. A barber by profession, he was by no means a saint, says his father, but neither was he involved in gang activity.
Basil Brannon
“He is very friendly, mischievous of course. As a teenager he was very mischievous, gets himself in a bit of trouble now and then but he’s not a gang person as such. Like any other teenager growing up trying to figure out who they are that’s the person I know best of Dondre.”
As with the case of his siblings which ended with their accused murderers being acquitted Basil Brannon is not looking forward to justice being served. Instead he is discouraged and emotionally spent.
Dondre Brannon
Basil Brannon
“Justice we’re not going to see that. We all know that so I’m not even going to cry for that. Just stop. Let that be the last one. Myself I’m very frustrated. My tolerance level I don’t have any more. I’ll be honest with you.”
Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.
Up to press time tonight, there is still no arrest or suspects in the murder of Dondre Brannon.
HANG ALL MURDERERS, no exceptions, no mercy.
The youths of Belize have no activities to build character or self. The leaders of youth programs stand aside and argue and while the children suffer. Belize had very good basket ball program where did it go? Belize have very good succer players but not even a field for them to hone their skills on. There are those who can sign and dance but no where for them to develop.
Stop the political crap and start leadership programs for the youths. Get rid of bad/corrupt officers. Give a police exam and only from those that pass the exam. Do not penalize those that stand up for good regardless of their party affiliation.
The people of Belize need to demand more better service from their leaders.
Unfortunately, this is how many more youths of Belize lives will end.
Politics in Belize is not based on quality of life, or high standards, but more on vanity, and getting rich, even if the youths and the elders are being gunned down on the streets.
Anyway, It is not the first time this family has come under fire and bad luck seems to have nothing to do with this shooting.
It the Government don’t purposefully invest in our young people……….we will see no changes anytime soon. programs and employment opportunities are what is lacking let’s move away from these pilot projects that gives just false hope to a population so fragile if not protected and care for they will continue dying.
IS PILOT PROJECTS AND BANDAGE FIXING GANG TROUCE IS ALL WE ARE WORTH……….?
People for got about GOD, MY belizen people for got how they got here , to take a life is the worst sin ever , I’m not here to peach I no noting about peaching , I lost my borther to gun vilence I know how it feels to lose a love one , KRG…… there is a way , there is love , there is hope , I’m not giving up so easy , I no there’s smothing that can b done to stop killing or own black borthers , I have not yet meet the lord , but I one day love to , I’m asking my black belizen borthers sister , please stop the killing all gang leaders , this is wat the pm n everyone else want for us to kill eachother out , it stars with us , no can stop this but us no one , because GOD don’t live in belize anymore , it stars with black men in the city , there will b away to servie , invite GOD back to belize PEOPLE …… I will do my best to help , I love everyone in my contry good or bad …… I’m from kraal road crips gang , WE NEED TO STOP KILLING AND START REBULING BEAUTIFUL BELIZE TO MUCH PEOPLE DIE ALREADY AND WE STILL LOSEING ,WHEN I MEANE WE ,BLACK MEN , ONE LAST THING LOVE UR NEIGBOR AS BORTHER…………
I 100% agree j killa.we have taken out God from everything so the devil has stepped in. But it’s not too late. parents need to love their kids,especially men…fathers who want to have a 3 with this girl and a 2 with this one. The family unit (male, female, children) offers love and security and if fathers are not there for their kids nor give them love and security these children will look for it in dangerous places and they end up in the wrong groups. Im not saying this is the case here but I know that absent fathers are the main reason why our youn boys are being killed like birds in our streets.
WHICH OF THE POLITICAL PARTIES have said anything ABOUT SOLVING THIS VIOLENT CRIME EPIDEMIC???????
AS WE KNOW…THE CHURCHES (who have FAILED US) would rather FIGHT UNIBAM, little girlie men, THAN TAKE ON VIOLENT STREET CRIME.
AS MENTIONED ABOVE…WE ALL NEED TO PRAY TO GOD FOR HIS PERSONAL HELP to make “THE JEWEL BOX” A SAFE AND PEACEFUL PLACE TO LIVE.
We are a rainbow nation, it seems that it is only the Creole and Garifuna men having a hard time here in Belize?
Quite frankly I think they are disgraceful animals. Their forefathers worked so hard so they can hold their head high and all these guys want to do is live the gangster thug life. No education, no morals, no respect for themselves and fellow human beings or for life.
Sadly its a small proportion but they give all the others a bad name. Nothing to do with racism. Mr Prime Minister we’re tired of asking you to get tougher with these guys.
It’s a case of: ‘JUST IT’.
We want harsher, harsher sentencing, make some examples of these animals.
Radical belizean…..harsher, harsher sentencing will not work. That is putting the cart in front of the horse. The justice system cannot even convict these guys and the few who get convicted are suspect convictions. Almost all the comments are about what GOB will do, what the churches will do and no one is asking what will we do. It is our children that are being killed, it is our children doing the killing…..the buck stops with us!
afta four loooong years,all BARROW and his crowd cumup with is to pay the gang leaders to hold it down till election. iS THAT SOLIVING CRIME< IS THAT THE POSSIBILTY WE IMAGINED???
This tendency to violence begins in the home. Parents are not parenting, these children are born and have to raise themselves. I bet the majority of the time they are not shown love, not told they are loved, and left to fend for themselves. Tea and bread is what they have to look forward to most days. There are no jobs, no fun things to do, they see the old men sit under the veranda or trees and drink, argue and gamble. There are no real role model for these children to follow. So many children are being born simply because a woman slept with a man, no family planning, no emotional attachment to the conception or the birth, therefore the child has no real bond to mother or father. I hear children told how stupid they are, how ugly they are, and made to care for the rest of the babies the momma choose to have. The government cannot do everything, at some point people have to take responsibility for their lives. Parents please begin to talk to your children, give them a better foundation. When we were growing up we did not have very much, but we could not leave the house with a hole in our clothes, we had to take a needle and thread and sew it up, this is the pride we need to put back into our children.
We can continue to blame the politicians for all this murder and mayhem until thy kingdom come, the reality of the situation is, until and unless parents especially fathers take an active role in disciplining their sons from infancy , this crayness will only continue to spiral out of control.
Charity begins at home so that when it is broke and out in the streets like this, no Politician, teacher nor prison warden can fix this. Right about now, its only a matter of t ime partner.
Mr Brannon, I can sense the frustration in your interview and I sympathise with you over the lost of your son. I do not think he deserved to die.
Well i think that belize should start hanging murders if u live by the gun then u shud die by the gun too…why should the belizean tax payer pay tax to have those waste being in prison when then can be hanged and the tax could go down if we do the math how many murderers are in prison and how much they have to feed them it is ridiculus….Start cleaning out the city before we the people do……………..
R.I.P Dondre…My condolences the family!!!
The PRISON FARM… IS STILL A GOOD IDEA!!!
On “Radical”Belizean’s comment:
I personally don’t believe what he said in regard to racism. If it didn’t have anything to do with racism, then he wouldn’t have called them “disgusting animals” and he wouldn’t have alluded to what seems to have, again, become a popular stereotype in Belize as of late. And, no, it doesn’t matter that he said “nice” things about their ancestors because, from the way it seems (to me, at least), that was meant to portray his comment as being something than what it really is.
Now, if he actually meant what he said, then I apologise. However, I would say that, even so, his choice of words are inappropriate for the situation because they collectively give off this racist aura and I would say that, in general, one has to be very careful about the words he or she uses, because, despite that old saying about words, they can hurt people and, if they were used in a certain fashion, could trigger a dangerous chain reaction that could trigger others to hurt people they normally wouldn’t think of hurting.