San Pedro alleged drug dealer killed on the island

Dennis Palacio

Crime and violence are disrupting the once peaceful island of San Pedro. Just before midnight on Saturday night, a Bomba resident was murdered as he stood outside a house on Seaweed Street in the San Juan Area. Dennis Palacio, who was no stranger to the law was shot to the back and shoulder and succumbed soon after. Investigations so far reveal that Palacio was ambushed by a man wearing a black T-shirt and red short pants. Duane Moody has a report on the first murder over the weekend.

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Duane Moody, Reporting

Near this blue fence on Seaweed Street in the San Juan Area of San Pedro, forty-three year old Dennis Palacio was standing when he was shot multiple times to the body by a lone gunman. Palacio ran, but collapsed inside a nearby yard. Sergeant Raymond Berry of San Pedro Police explains.

Sgt. Raymond Berry, Staff Sergeant, San Pedro Police

Raymond Berry

“They came across the lifeless body of a dark-skinned male person who we later identified to be Dennis Palacio. He was seen lying on the ground with four apparent gunshot wounds. One to the left side of the upper lower back, two to the right upper back near the shoulder and one entry to the right pinky finger. Police investigation reveals that he was standing beside Arceo fence sometime around eleven-twenty-five p.m. that night when a male dark-skinned person dressed in black shirt approached him and fired five shots; four of which caught him. So far the police visited the scene and processed the area; five expended nine millimeter shells retrieved from the scene.”

According to Yadira Portillo, who spoke with us off camera, Palacio had been living down this alley for approximately two years. She alleges he was involved with drugs.

Voice of: Yadira Portillo, Neighbor of Murder Victim (Translated)

“I gave him this room so that he can stay and take care of the yard. But he drank a lot and used drugs. Since I go to church, I always told him to find god and change his life because he was living a dangerous life. The day when they killed him, around nine-thirty in the night, I saw him going through garbage outside, but I didn’t tell him anything. When I woke up in the morning, someone passed and told me that he was killed. He sold drugs. He sold drugs and a lot of people came here to buy drugs. I kept on telling him that I didn’t like what he was doing.”

While he has only a few relatives living on the island, he was original from the village of Bomba in Belize District. Police confirm that Palacio has had a string of run-ins with the law. Portillo, however, says that that aside, he has always had respect for her.

Yadira Portillo

Voice of: Yadira Portillo (Translated)

“I knew him personally and he never disrespected me or has he told me anything negative. He wasn’t like that with anyone that lived here. He had his ways, but he was always a respectful person. I never knew if he had enemies, but sometimes he seemed beat up. He had a cut wound across his eye at one time. They constantly would beat him maybe because of the drugs. I think that he was killed because of the drugs that he sold because he was selling a lot of drugs.”

Two persons are currently detained in connection with this murder. Duane Moody for News Five.