Double murder on Belize City. Is a stolen bicycle the motive?

Two Lebanese businessmen were murdered this week. And while the investigations continue into possible links, there is no mistake that Thursday night’s murder of two Belize City men are related. With four men gunned down this week, the police department is yet to make arrests in the cases.  However, the brother of one of the victims believes the men may have been killed because of a stolen bicycle.

Isani Cayetano, Reporting

A congealed pool of blood on the ground in front of a zinc building, within this dockyard on North Front Street, is the remains of a crime scene where two Belize City men were violently dispatched on Thursday night.  Forty-three year old Robert Young was said to be cleaning a fish a few feet away from the building when he was attacked and shot as many as five times to various parts of the body.  His brother Emil, who resides in Ladyville, was at home when he received the ominous phone call.

Emil Young

Emil Young, Brother of Deceased

“About 11:30 or so I received a call from a family friend, who told us that my brother got grazed because there was a shooting and apparently his friend got shot and he got grazed.  I asked her if she thinks that I needed to come down and she said no, give it a while and then she’d tell me, you know.  About ten minutes after that she called again and said she’s sorry but he did got shot and he got shot twice in the head and he was dead because they had him in the morgue.”

It is reported that Young was in the company of thirty-five year old Frank James, a laborer of a Pickstock Street address, when the gunmen approached them.  The two, we are told, were close friends.  James, who attempted to flee the scene, was mowed down in a burst of gunfire.  His body was later discovered on the nearby street.

Raphael Martinez

Raphael Martinez, Police Press Officer

“At approximately 11:20 p.m. police visited the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital where they saw thirty-five year old Frank James, a laborer of #2 Pickstock Street, Belize City, lying motionless with apparent multiple gunshot wounds to the body, namely: [his] abdomen, the right calf and the left wrist.  He was pronounced dead at 11:15 p.m.”

According to Young’s brother, the incident may have been triggered by a stolen bicycle.  Robert, he said, was a bicycle repairman.

Robert Young

Emil Young

“This morning we got some reports that it’s probably over a stolen bicycle, whiching, if that is even true, I see the reason for somebody being killed over a stolen bicycle.  [I’m] not condoning that but, you know, still.  The price of a bicycle doesn’t value the price of somebody’s life, you know.”

Young was killed execution-style, shot point blank and left to hemorrhage.

Raphael Martinez

Frank James

“Police visited the dockyard on North Front Street in Belize City where they saw forty-three year old Robert Young, a laborer of the same dockyard, lying motionless with apparent multiple gunshot wounds as well.  He had wounds to the left ear, the head, the neck and the right hand.  Initial investigations revealed that on the same date, Thursday, twenty-fifth October at approximately 10:20 gunshots were heard on North Front Street and shortly thereafter Frank James was found lying injured on the street. Police have recovered three nine millimeter casings from the scene and are seeking three Belize City men for questioning.”

Lambert Jex, a close friend of both men, says that James, who did odd jobs and usually assisted in offloading containers nearby, was not a troublemaker.

Lambert Jex

Lambert Jex, Friend of Deceased Men

“Ih work every day.  Da bwai work ice at Northern Fishermen’s [Cooperative] and don’t trouble nobody.  Every time you meet me I sihdown front a Zeta [Ice Factory] and we noh trouble nobody, okay.  But he just get with di wrong crowd and da dat happen, yoh undastand mih.  And I noh happy wid it, yoh know, cause da mi best friend.”

Young’s brother, on the other hand, feared for his sibling’s life.

Emil Young

“I did fear for his life here in the city because I knew what Belize City had become, you know.  It’s not what we’re used to [from] back in the days and this actually where we grew up.  This was our playground back in the 90s, the 70s, the 80s, you know.  This is like home, this area, so seeing him, like I said, seeing him last night in that condition was like, was shocking mein.  I just could fathom it, honestly.”

Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.

Anthony Scott

Earlier on Thursday, twenty-three year old Anthony Scott was also shot in an unrelated incident at the corner of Rivero and Barnett Streets.  Reports are that Scott was socializing with two men when a gunman accosted them.  Several shots were fired in their direction, injuring Scott in the left shoulder and left calf.  The gunman escaped and police are investigating these shootings.