The weekend’s fifth shooting victim is James Swaso, who is better known as “Chainsaw.” He is in a critical condition at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital after he was shot twice at his home. The well-known south side figure has had a long history of run-ins with the law—from robbery charges to firearm offences to […]
The weekend rollout of the latest crime fighting measure to be undertaken by police in Belize City is yet to yield fruit. Despite the seemingly overwhelming presence of officers in the streets during the past seventy-two hours, crime is still very much prevalent on the south side. All three shooting incidents that have taken place […]
Assistant Commissioner of Police Dezerie Magdaleno also plays a key role in the effectiveness of the campaign. Her responsibility to ACT includes the gathering of actionable leads from members of the public via a pair of open phone lines. ACP Dezerie Magdaleno, Commander, Eastern Division “The Operation ACT that was launched on Friday, as […]
Belmopan police have arrested and charged three persons in connection with last Thursday’s robbery of First Stop Pawn Shop in Belmopan. And it appears that a disgruntled former employee of the establishment orchestrated the heist. With assistance from the Belize City Police, three city residents have been fingered as the thieves. They are: twenty-year-old Ryan […]
The illegal sale of marijuana has long since been identified as the root cause for an eruption of gun violence among feuding groups in Belize City. Both activities have spiked considerably over the past few months, a total of twenty-nine murders being committed as of July first. According to Senior Superintendent Marco Vidal, who heads […]
The Belize Police Department has launched a new offensive on gang-related crimes in the city. We will show you what is being done in an attempt to curb the spike in murders on the south side, but first there’s a breaking story to report on in the Lake Independence area, where the three recent murders […]
Police today launched an initiative called ACT, which stands for Addressing Crime Together, to tackle the spiralling urban violence related to gang activities. ACT will boost police presence in three hot spots in the south side where the number of murders is at an alarming upward trend. In fact, up to this point in the […]
Minister of State Elodio Aragon Junior whose office is responsible for the day-to-day management of the Belize Police Department, says the plan of action has the full support of the Ministry of Home Affairs. That branch of government has since acquired fifteen new vehicles to be assigned to the operation. The junior minister says the […]
While police put more boots on the ground in the city, police in southern Belize continue investigations into the apparent murder of thirty-two-year-old Jose Alfredo Majil, a taxi operator based in Dangriga. Majil’s body was found around seven this morning by an attendant at an orange orchard about one hundred yards from the Southern Highway […]
A pair of relatives is being laid to rest this weekend, following a series of murders in the Lake Independence area over the past few days. The family and friends of twenty-five-year-old Shaqwuan Almendarez bade him farewell today, while his killer is still at large. According to ASP Alejandro Cowo, an all points bulletin has […]
Twenty-eight-year-old Cardinal Andrews was shot once in the back of the head on Wednesday and remains in a life-threatening condition at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. Tonight, his attacker remains on the loose and police say they have an idea who may have pulled the trigger that evening. According to Assistant Superintendent Alejandro Cowo, the […]
Seven-year-old Malli Herrera was the unintended target of a gunman who opened fire on a New Road residence on Tuesday night in Belize City. The Saint Joseph School student was shot once to the lower back and remains hospitalized in the I.C.U. at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. The daring attack during which the child’s […]
Brothers Alexander Underwood, twenty-eight, and Austin, twenty-four, have made bail on a single charge of possession of prohibited ammunition, to wit, a single five-point-five-six round allegedly found on their property in Belize City on Monday. The elder Underwood is well-known as alleged leader of the Southside Gangsters but had been making recent attempts to reform […]
Following Underwood’s release from custody this evening, News Five spoke with one of his relatives. She says that there is indeed surveillance footage which purportedly captured a team of officers entering Underwood’s property on Caesar Ridge Road in the early hours of Wednesday morning. She also says that the brothers are the victims of constant […]
Three persons are tonight in police custody pending further investigation into the armed robbery of a pawn shop in the Capital City of Belmopan. Around nine-thirty on Thursday morning, police responded to reports of a robbery at First Stop Pawn Shop on Constitution Drive. There, the manager, twenty-four-year-old Alexia Neal reported that she was along […]
We don’t generally report on cases of suicide, but it is unusual to have deaths occur in a police station, as this one did. Fifty-one-year-old Mario Herrera of Maskall village, Belize District, turned himself in to police this morning for questioning over a reported domestic dispute. Within ninety minutes, he would be found dead, hanging […]
While Social Security dominated this afternoon’s press conference, the first issue raised by P.U.P. Leader John Briceño was crime, which has dominated this week’s news as it has many weeks. And the solution could be on his way back very soon. Former Southside Commander Chester Williams, according to Briceño, is slated for a return. But […]
A seven-year-old Saint Joseph Primary School student is tonight recovering back at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital from a gunshot wound to the back which exited her abdomen. Malli Herrera was injured along with her grandmother just before news time on Tuesday night as they sat inside their home on New Road, in Belize City. […]
As seven-year-old Malli Herrera recovers at the K.H.M.H., Cardinal Andrews continues to fight for his life and remains on a ventilator inside the I.C.U. The twenty-eight-year-old Belize Water Services employee was targeted on Wednesday afternoon around four o’clock, as he walked on Partridge Street in the Saint Martin de Porres area in Belize City. No […]
While no one has been detained for either of the shootings in the city, on Ambergris Caye, a construction worker of the San Mateo area of San Pedro Town has been charged for the attempted murder of a woman. Police say that just before four p.m., Alexia del Carmen Melendez was walking to her home […]
The recent decriminalization of a small quantity of marijuana for personal use is not unique to Belize. In fact, it follows a similar model that has been implemented in Jamaica where a greater amount of two ounces, the equivalent of fifty-six point six grams of cannabis, has been permitted for individual consumption. According to Kamina […]
Along with decriminalization is a broader conversation of legalizing the marijuana industry as a viable contributor to a country‘s Gross Domestic Product. That prototype would be similar to a model that has been implemented in Denver, Colorado where significant economic growth has been recorded, following legalization of the drug. Kamina Johnson-Smith, Foreign Minister, Jamaica […]
The spike in violent crimes across Belize City, as well as allegations of state-sanctioned killings as a possible solution to the rampant homicides that have gripped the Old Capital, has raised serious concerns among the citizenry. This is in light of allegations of an extrajudicial assignment to be undertaken by a special unit of the […]
Just before news time on Tuesday night shots rang out on New Road. As sixty-year-old Judith Rocke and her grandchildren sat inside their house to watch the television evening news, reports are that a gunman standing at a nearby alley fired up to six shots at the house. Rocke was hit to the right arm, […]
There is another shooting to report as violence continues to grip the south side of Belize City. Twenty-eight-year-old Cardinal Andrews is said to be in critical condition after he was critically injured in a shooting incident on Partridge Street. Sometime around four this afternoon, the Burrell Boom resident was in the area when a single […]
