Burns is charged with the murder of Carlton Moreira, 34
BELIZE CITY, Mon. May 28, 2018– Last Wednesday, just as things seemed to have been returning to normal in Belize City after a long, murderous weekend, gun violence struck again, claiming the life of another innocent, productive citizen.
Shortly after the lunch hour Wednesday, a number of police vehicles were seen swarming into Lakeview Street, in the Mayflower Street area, which is the turf of the Ghost Town Gang, following the fatal shooting of Carlton Moreira, 34, a plumber and longtime resident of the area.
Police scooped up a number of men from the area, but have released all of them. They are now focusing their investigation on one man, Jordon Burns, 19, who was charged for the murder, but who managed to escape from police because he was being carelessly moved without a handcuff.
Burns was being transported from the cell block to a police vehicle that was supposed to take him to court for arraignment.
There is an internal police investigation underway to look into the circumstances of how Burns escaped from police custody. As at press time tonight, he has not been recaptured.
A young woman who spoke to Amandala last Thursday on condition of anonymity, said that she saw Moreira shortly, after 11:00 a.m., and she asked him to give her “a little money” so that she could buy lunch. She said, “He brought a plate of food for me. But by afternoon, I heard that they had killed him for his boledo money.”
Someone shot Moreira in the head twice, as he was walking toward his house through one of the alleys that connect Lakeview Street to Mayflower Street.
In their report, police said that they responded to a report from the Lakeview Street area around 1:15 p.m., and when they arrived on the scene, they observed the body of a man, Carlton Jarrett Moreira, on the ground with two apparent gunshot wounds to the head.
Police reported that their initial investigation revealed that Moreira was walking through an alley when a man approached him and fired in his direction, fatally injuring him.
Marie Moreira, 45, Carlton Moreira’s sister, told us that shortly after 12:00 p.m., she was in her house, located on Lakeview Street, and was just about to begin watching television when she heard a gunshot ring out.
After hearing the gunshot, Moreira said, “My mind went on my other brother, but I went back to sit down in my house. Then I heard the commotion outside, so I decided to go and see what happened.
“When I reach outside, a boy from through the alley said that my brother got shot. When I reach deh soh, he was on the ground, dead already.”
We asked Moreira if she knew whether the shooter entered the area on a bicycle or walking.
“We don’t know what happen, because it’s through an alley, and people always pass through on bicycle or foot,” Moreira said.
Moreira added in Creole, “Da no anybody come through ya. So ‘e haffu be somebody from through ya. Da somebody ‘e know.”
Moreira explained that her brother lived at their family house with his common-law wife and their two daughters, ages 13 and 5 years old. She said that his death is a pity, because Father’s Day is right around the bend, and his two children will be graduating from school next month, the older of the two from primary school and the younger child from preschool.
Moreira said her brother was a person of mellow temperament who was self-employed.
“He doesn’t mess with nobody, and he isn’t a gangbanger,” she said. “He was the type of person that if you don’t speak to him, he won’t say anything to you. He was very courteous and mannerly,” she said.