Ride by shooting of Isaiah Williams on Banak Street

Isaiah Williams

Thursday evening was particularly violent; in a span of less than five hours, there were three shootings in the city and in southern Belize. There were two shootings in the Old Capital. A fourteen year old girl was shot as she ate dinner at her house on La Croix Boulevard and hours later, further away but still on the south side, Isaiah Williams was targeted as he indulged in a smoke at his house on Banak Street. Two men simply rode up and opened fire; four bullets hit Williams who is in critical condition at the K.H.M.H. at this hour. News Five’s Andrea Polanco reports.

Andrea Polanco, Reporting

The signs of the attack on Isaiah Williams mar the entrance to his parents’ home on Banak Street. The bullet riddled zinc fence and splattered blood are what have been left behind after a gunman on a bike opened bullets on him around ten-forty five on Thursday night. There multiple shots fired; the neighbors found this expended shell in their house. The shooting shocked the community and initial reports reaching the family were that Williams had been killed.

Rosalie Williams, Wife of Isaiah Williams

“I wasn’t out on Banak Street where he got shot in front of his mom’s house. I was where I live in an apartment right now temporary. One of my neighbors came and knock on the door where me and my kids were inside sleeping and she told me to come now because deh just kill your husband, deh just kill Isaiah. But I didn’t believe that right. She said, ‘I serious. He deh pahn Banak right now. He deh inna the drain.”

But Williams survived the hail of bullets. He was hit four times. He is at the K.H.M.H. in a critical but stable condition.

Rosalie Williams

“When I went in he was really in a lot of pain. He was talking to me but every time he talked he was bringing up a lot of blood through his mouth. He got four shots.”

Andrea Polanco

“To which part of his body?”

Rosalie Williams

Rosalie Williams

“He got a shot in the left side of his face. He got a shot in his neck and his back and in one of his arm. The shot in his neck, they said, your spine up in the top have two wings and one of those were fractured; so only one is working so they are trying to keep him stable so that he doesn’t hambug that other one or else it can paralyze him from the neck down. Right now he is in the ICU. They took him early this morning for a surgery because he couldn’t breathe well on his own and they cut his throat to put a tube so that he could breathe. The doctors say that when he get up outta this forty-eight hours, they could see what’s next but so far.”

Andrea Polanco

“So for right now he remains in a critical condition?”

Rosalie Williams

“Yes, but stable.”

Williams, who was said to be outside the gate taking a smoke, saw two men on bikes. Rosalie says he told her from his hospital bed about the moments before he was shot.

Rosalie Williams

“He told me, because I asked him, who shot you? Do you know who shot you? And he said it was two male; two dark skinned males. He does not really can remember face fi say dah who. He remember dah two ah dem and that one ah dem told the other one, ‘dis is the young man.’ It was like he di ask the other one if dis dah the young man and the next one tell ah yes and that when he  know that deh dah gun man and deh haul out the gun and shot him up. Suh he did not expect that. He said he could remember falling to the ground in the drain but nobody was out there any at all.”

Someone wanted Williams dead. According to his wife, he was not associated with any gangs. The family believes someone closer is responsible for the shooting.

Rosalie Williams

“My mom told me, that reaching at the apartment, the young man was there and he threatened my husband; that if he put his feet into his place he would kill him. And my husband told me about the threat also. Knowing this happen, he is the only, only person. Only God could come down and tell me that maybe dah nuh he pull the trigger but he know exactly who do it.”

Andrea Polanco

“Maybe he set it up?”

Rosalie Williams

“Right. Maybe he set it up. This dah why I believe this happen to my husband because inna all his years, anybody and everybody  weh know him wah personally tell yuh that he is not gang affiliated regardless of where he lives. He born and grow there but never yet include himself with no Ghost Town, no Banak, nothing. He is a jack of all trades.  He does technician work. He goes to sea when he ready. He do CYDP job. He is a family man.”

Reporting for News Five, I’m Andrea Polanco.

Rosalie Williams says that on Thursday night someone broke into her kitchen and stole a number of items.