Police make 2nd arrest in security guard killing

Tonight two young men are behind bars, arrested for the shocking murder of security guard Oliver Blanco on Wednesday morning. News Five’s Jacqueline Godwin has the disturbing details of the case.

Jacqueline Godwin, Reporting
Eight hours after the cold blooded murder of fifty-eight year old Oliver Blanco the Belize City Crimes Investigation Branch arrested the suspected killers. The young men are identified as twenty-six year old Edward Arthurs and twenty-three year old Noel Usher. Authorities described both men as ?hard core criminals?. Assistant Superintendent of Police and Head of C.I.B., Chester Williams identifies Arthurs as the person who fatally shot twenty-six year old Trevor Smith nine times on July fourteenth, 2005.

A.S.P. Chester Williams, Head, C.I.B.
?Mr. Arthurs was here last year, being questioned for the murder of Trevor Smith which we believe he was the one who killed Trevor Smith. But we did not have the evidence and he was released. Mr. Usher he is a regular also.?

Investigators say Usher is suspected as the attacker who shot Blanco three times Wednesday morning. Authorities say after Blanco was shot in the hand and again in the back of the neck, he fell into the drain. It is believed that Blanco was already dead when his killer stood over the victim and shot him in the head.

Chester Williams
?They are not people who would confess to the police but we do not need a confession from them. We have overwhelming evidence in order to secure a conviction against them.?

That evidence includes the murder weapon, a nine millimetre Ruger pistol and the security guard?s weapon, another nine millimetre handgun. Williams says it was a combination of good police work and community support that led to discovery of the weapons on Wednesday night.

Chester Williams
?Last night sometime around nine p.m. with the assistance of the Yabra community, we were able to recover two nine millimetre pistols. One has been positively identified as the firearm that was robbed from Mr. Blanco at the time of his murder. The other one is believed to be the murder weapon. The firearms we have them and they will be sent to the ballistic expert for testing to confirm the use of the one they believe to be the murder weapon as being the weapon used to kill Mr. Blanco. It will match with the expended shells we recovered from the scene to see if yes, this gun fired these expended shells. So that will be done between today and tomorrow.?

Jacqueline Godwin
?Where were the guns found??

Chester Williams
?They were found in the Yabra area.?

Jacqueline Godwin
?In a house??

Chester Williams
?Underneath a house.?

Jacqueline Godwin
?Whose house??

Chester Williams
?I will not say at this time.?

The suspected murder weapon was found with nine live rounds in its clip. Ballistics will determine whether the missing slugs were are the five shots fired from the killer?s gun. Blanco?s weapon, the property of Anchor Security, was recovered with a fully loaded magazine.

Chester Williams
?Obviously from the way the incident occurred, from the fact that Mr. Blanco was lowered from his workplace to the area shows that it was something planned between the two of them for a period of time. They just managed to execute what they were planning for quite sometime.?

Police say because both men hung out daily near the crime scene, leading them to believe Arthurs and Usher had studied their victim?s movement for days before making their move.

Jacqueline Godwin for News Five

In court this afternoon, Usher and Arthurs appeared before Magistrate Dorothy Flowers on charges of murder and conspiracy to commit murder. The duo was remanded to Hattieville Prison until June thirtieth. But just as the officers were about to remove the accused from the courtroom, Noel Usher told the magistrate, “Can I say something your honour, because from last night I wanted to go to hospital. The men them beat me. My left foot and right foot swell up and bus up.” After he showed Flowers his legs, the police were then ordered to take both Usher and Arthurs to the hospital before their trip west.