5 persons injured in shooting at a graduation party in Belize City

There was a spate of shootings in Belize City between Saturday and this morning. A total of eight persons were wounded to varying degrees. At a graduation party held at the Brown Sugar Mall on Sunday, as many as five persons were injured after they crashed the party of a student, who is the daughter of a reputed street figure. Twenty-two year old Kirk Smith Junior, who allegedly was the first to open fire was shot to the head and is in clinging to life at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. Police confirm that gang rivalry was at the root of shooting. News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports. 

Isani Cayetano, Reporting

Roger Anthony

A graduation bash here at the Brown Sugar Mall on Sunday night turned bloody when a pair of men who weren’t on the guest list opened fire on the partygoers.  The celebration, we understand, was being thrown for the daughter of well-known street figure Roger Anthony.  It is unclear what precipitated the armed confrontation but when the smoke cleared at least five people had been hit and were suffering from varying degrees of injury.  Superintendent Gualberto Garcia is the Officer Commanding Precinct Three.

Gualberto Garcia

Supt. Gualberto Garcia, O.C., Precinct Three

“Early this morning after twelve, about twelve-o-three police from Precinct Three received information of a shooting at that area.  As a result of that, police visited the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital where, upon arrival, we observed five persons with gunshot wounds.”

Among them were nineteen-year-old Windell Neal and twenty-six-year-old Daniel Cain.  Neal was shot to the abdomen and left leg, while Cain struck in the right leg.  With the exception of one victim, the injuries have been classified as non-life-threatening.

Windell Neal

Supt. Gualberto Garcia

“There are five persons with gunshot wounds.  Four of them are not critical, there’s not anything serious; however, one of the persons who, of these five, is in a very critical condition because he received gunshot wounds in his head.  As a result of that he is in a very critical condition right now.”

That individual has since been identified as twenty-two-year-old Kirk Smith Jr., who was recently acquitted of murder.  Smith, a member of the George Street Gang, is reportedly one of two men who showed up uninvited.  According to police, a motive is yet to be determined.

Supt. Gualberto Garcia

“At this moment the investigation is still ongoing, it is very young and at this point we do not have a motive as such.”

Isani Cayetano

Kirk Smith Jr.

“What else can you tell me in terms of what transpired there?”

Supt. Gualberto Garcia

“Well, from our investigations, as I mentioned it is very young, we have confirmed that the event was a private event.  It was a graduation party that was being held by certain people and, from investigations revealed, two persons who have not been identified at this moment arrived at that location sometime before midnight and something happened there that caused these persons to open fire within, in that vicinity amongst this crowd of people.”

The only visible signs of a party at the marketplace this morning were broken chairs and a few balloons.  CIB personnel were back at the scene to resume their investigation into the shooting.  That was succeeded by a sweep of neighboring Majestic Alley.

Supt. Gualberto Garcia

“As a result of the incidents that have happened throughout the city over the weekend, you know, it has been decided that we are conducting a sweep, as you can say.  We have our police officers, our Quick Response Teams from within the city who are doing a search of the area where we believe guns and ammunition and drugs might be hidden, you know.  So as a result of that we can say that yes we are having an operation currently.”

Also injured during the shooting are twenty-two-year-old Triston Gordon who received multiple pellets wounds in the back and twenty-one-year-old Adelyn Vernon, who was in the left inner thigh.  Police have retrieved nine nine-millimeter shells from the scene of the incident. Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.