Park Fest shooting leads to murder in Taylor’s Alley; 1 dead, 5 injured
Guishany Wagner
Aside from the murders in Lord’s Bank, one man was killed in Belize City and five were injured. The mayhem started at a mass event at the BTL Park where a huge crowd had assembled for the Digicel Park Fest. Several shots were fired and four persons were injured. The violence spilled to Taylors Alley, where one man was killed and another injured in retaliation. Police believe it is gang related. Duane Moody reports.
Duane Moody, Reporting
The flare up between two rivaling Belize City gangs started late Saturday night—just before twelve; when the mayhem ended one person was dead and five others injured. In the violent incident, several shots were fired into hundreds of residents at the Digicel Park Fest on Saturday night at the B.T.L. Park on Newtown Barracks. Terrorized, people scurried for safety in fear for their lives. Despite heavy security presence at the event, urban violence broke up the event. In the aftermath of the shooting; up to five persons: twenty-one year old Gregory Jones, twenty-eight year old Tulio Caceres, twenty-four year old Dillon Diamond and two sixteen year old minors were injured. While Jones was shot to the left side of the neck, the others were stabbed to various parts of the body.
Raphael Martinez, Police Press Officer
“At approximately 11:45 p.m. when police visited the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, they saw twenty-one year old Gregory Jones of a Belize City address suffering from apparent gunshot wounds to the left side of the neck. Twenty-seven year old Tulio Caceres of Taylor’s Alley was also seen suffering from two stab wounds to the right side of the abdomen and apparent cut wound to the right hand. A sixteen year old minor, also of Taylor’s Alley was seen suffering from three stab sounds to the left side of the abdomen. Then another sixteen year old minor also of Taylor’s Alley was seen suffering from apparent stab wound to the right side of the abdomen. And twenty-four year old Dillon Diamond, also of Taylor’s Alley, suffering from two apparent stab wounds to the left side of his back.”
Minutes later, around twelve-thirty a.m., shots rang out again; which ended fatal for twenty-two year old Guishany Fred Wagner. Wagner and sixteen year old Charles Middleton were socializing not far from where they lived on Taylor’s Alley when a lone gunman fired several shots at them. Wagner was mortally wounded while Middleton was shot to the left leg and right side of the chest.
Raphael Martinez
“At approximately 12:30 in the morning, police visited Orange Street in front of Salvation Army Primary School in Belize City where they saw twenty-two year old Guishany Fred Wagner of #57 Taylor’s Alley of Belize City lying with an apparent gunshot wound to the right side of the chest. Initial investigations reveal that Wagner and another person were standing on Orange Street when they were approached by a man of dark complexion who fired several shots in their direction causing the injuries to one Middleton and of course fatally injuring Wagner.”
Police believe that the murder was in retaliation to the shooting minutes earlier on Saturday night and that it is gang-related.
Raphael Martinez
Raphael Martinez
“The motive apparently was an old beef thing that actually extended all the way to Taylor’s Alley.”
Marion Ali, Love News
“And is that incident linked to the other, the murder of the…”
Raphael Martinez
“Yes. It was linked.”
Tulio Caceres
Rowland Parks, Reporter Press
“This is for the shooting or the stabbing?”
Raphael Martinez
“Well apparently the shooting and then the stabbing came after and then the Taylor’s Alley down the road.”
While both Smith and Diamond have been discharged from the Hospital, Jones and Middleton remain hospitalized. Duane Moody for News Five.
First, organizers of events like these must provide MUCH stronger security — people and bags need to be searched before people enter, there needs to be a large and obvious police/BDF presence. And ideally gang colors and clothes should mean no entrance.
Why let gangsters ruin events for the vast unarmed majority of law-abiding Belizeans?
This puts a real black cloud over DigiCell’s attempt at a nice, entertaining event.
Secondly, it’s too late for the victims, but I hope our elite law units come down HARD when they find all the perpetrators, both tyhose who actually killed and those who attempted to kill.
Finally, I hope police or BDF strike the criminals soon, like lightning. Justice delayed is justice denied.
it is not about security, it is about this country being taken over by criminals… and nobody goverment or citizen are able to do a thing…too lazy or coward to stand up
I think organizers of events like this should go farther than Storm suggests to guarantee safety: most of the gang leaders are well known, simply have someone identify them at the entrance and turn them away.
Have police at the ready to arrest those who don’t go quietly.
The alternative, if security is not vastly improved, is that event organizers will end up with nobody but gangsters in the audience. What decent Belizean wants to attend, or take their family to, a potential riot and shoot-out?
I hope other event organizers will learn well from Digicell’s disaster.
In a failed state like Belize where the criminals have full control of the streets, it comes as no surprise that the criminal elements feel that they can act with impunity as there are no consequences for breaking the law and undertaking acts of terrorism upon the citizens of Belize. Expect an escalation as conditions in Belize and the region is very unstable and other economic forces are at play that really puts Belize at a great risk. Present and past governments have not invested in the development of our community and have gotten by with giving people little financial tokens, creating a terrible cycle of dependency. Our people now feel they must be given stuff and that their is no value in labor, being thrifty and empowering self through education. I wait for a revolution for things to change.
Damn right babes, weh mi bro lee Rod deh