Weekend of crime and shooting

Raphael Martinez

And while there is at least one confirmed murder, there were other violent incidents that took place in the city in the last three days. Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Police and Public Safety, Raphael Martinez, briefed the media on the crime stories as well as two accidents, one of which turned fatal for Andrew Blades of the popular Blades Ice Cream.

Raphael Martinez, Public Relations Officer, Ministry of Police and Public Safety

“I was told that the delivery man for Gonzalo Quinto and sons, one Eric Gordon, was actually transporting an undisclosed amount of money to be deposited when he was attacked by an unknown assailant who stabbed him. Fortunately the stabbing was not fatal. I’m sure he is at the K.H.M.H. receiving treatment for his stab wounds. So far no subject has been detained pending this incident.  Another unfortunate incident where we had some people socializing corner North Front Street and Pink’s Alley—the little park just opposite the city council. Mister Norris Flowers along with Michael Staine and other people socializing when a dark colored vehicle came from the direction of Tourist Village and somebody from that vehicle opened fire on the crowd injuring these men. One was injured in his upper calf and the other one in his hand. So far we’re still running investigations on this and nobody has been detained regarding this incident. On Sunday night just after seven o’clock he was traveling outside Belize City and a freighter was coming the opposite direction at mile five and six on the western highway when that incident occurred. Unfortunately he collided with this freighter vehicle and his Mitsubishi vehicle that overturned. He sustained some injuries. At this time, I am not certain of the injuries that he sustained. Unfortunately, I was made to understand this morning that Mister Andrew Blades, well known person from Belize City, had passed. There is some investigation still surrounding this incident, but unconfirmed reports have it that there was a jet ski incident involving two jet skis and some young persons in which he was a member of somewhere in the Belama area yesterday. As I mentioned before, we still don’t have a lot of information on this and the investigation is still underway.”