MAHOGANY HEIGHTS–A man is in police custody in connection with the murder of Kenroy Parham, 25, a former Belize City resident, which is believed to have occurred during the early hours of last Saturday, November 29, in the Mahogany Heights Community at Mile 31 on the George Price Highway.

So far, the details concerning the incident have been sketchy, and police have only reported that Parham was found in the area of Mahogany Heights, a settlement of just over 1,000 residents, with multiple gunshot wounds in the back and head.

Authorities also said that an individual has been detained and another is being sought for questioning as their investigations continue.

Parham, who previously resided at 16 Curassow Street in Belize City before he relocated to Mahogany Heights, was remanded to prison on February 28, 2012, after he was busted with a loaded firearm during a raid by the Gang Suppression Unit (GSU).

Between 8:40 a.m. and 12.00 noon on that day, the GSU searched the Parham residence and reportedly found Kenroy Parham sitting in front of his house with a black 9-millimeter Sig Sauer brand pistol, loaded with a magazine containing nine rounds of 9-millimeter ammunition, wedged under the waist of his pants.

Kenroy Parham, 25, was shot multiple times in the head and back; Emerson Arnold, 35, was shot 7 times in the back

Hattieville police, who are currently in charge of the murder investigation, told us that a post-mortem will be conducted on Parham’s body tomorrow, Tuesday, to determine the cause of his death, and they will proceed from there.

An unconfirmed report to us is that Parham was the biological father of 18-year-old Rayleen Dyer’s child, who was three months old when she was allegedly kidnapped and her mother murdered in October of 2010. Police believe that Dyer, a University of Belize student, was beheaded, but her body was never found, and no one was ever found guilty of her murder, or of her daughter’s kidnapping.

Although police remain mum, street speculation is, however, that Parham’s murder is somehow tied to the murder of Emerson Arnold, 35, of Lakeview Street in the southside of Belize City. Arnold was shot to death around 6:30 Friday morning, just about a day before.

A Mahogany Heights teenager, Jason Sanchez, 19, appeared in the Belize City Magistrate’s Court this morning, Monday, and Chief Magistrate Ann Marie Smith arraigned him on one count of murder for causing the unlawful death of Emerson Arnold, 35, on Friday, November 28.

Just the week before, Arnold’s cousin, Carlos “Zimbab” Abraham, a ranking member of the George Street Gang, was shot, but was not fatally injured, as he sat in his vehicle in front of a tire shop located at the corner of Banak Street and Lakeview Street, where Arnold resides.

Arnold, just before he was shot to death, was riding his bicycle on Gibnut Street towards Central American Boulevard, to the headquarters of the Belize Water Services, where he was employed, when a man wearing a hood on his head rode up behind him and shot him seven times in his back.

Neighbors in the area reported that they heard about 9 shots fired.

Police who went to the scene of the shooting saw Emerson Arnold lying on the pavement suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to the back. He was taken to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival at about 7:30 the same Friday morning.

Amandala was told by people in the area that Arnold did not live in the area and was just riding through Gibnut Street, from Curassow Street towards Central American Boulevard. About 75 feet past the “T” junction of Seagull Street and Gibnut Street, a gunman reportedly rode up behind Arnold, shot him and then left the scene.

Police say that they have detained a man in connection with the murder. They say that the motive for the deadly attack on Emerson Arnold is still unknown.

Arnold’s death came about seven days after an attempt was made to gun down his cousin, Carlos “Zimbab” Abraham, who was shot in the neck and shoulder while he was talking to his uncle in front of a tire shop on Lakeview Street in Collet, but Zimbab, shot twice, survived.

Arnold’s sister said that her brother would go to Caye Caulker to visit his daughter, and he also occasionally traveled to Honduras to visit his other daughter. When he was in the city, he would “hang out” with his cousins on the canal side by Queen’s Square, but he did not “hang out” on Lakeview Street, she said.

His sister said that he was murdered on her birthday, November 28. She said that she will remember his murder every year, on her birthday.