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Thursday, March 28, 2024

World Down Syndrome Day

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Did Thomas Reyes, 42, kill himself over lost wife’s love?

GeneralDid Thomas Reyes, 42, kill himself over lost wife’s love?
At around 8:15 this morning, the body of Thomas Bert Reyes, Sr., 42, a supervisor of SOS (Security Oriented Services LTD) on Burns Avenue, was found by a friend lying on a bed in a room in the lower flat of the two-storey office building with a single gunshot wound in the head.
  
Police say that they arrived at around 8:25 a.m. at the security business at #59 Burns Avenue, and in the living quarters at the back of the building, they saw Reyes lying with his back partially on the mattress, in a pool of blood with both feet on the floor.
  
He had been shot in the area of the left temple, and the bullet exited through the right side of the head, we were told.
  
Next to Reyes’ body, police found a Smith and Wesson 9mm pistol, which had a magazine containing 13 live rounds; a gold wedding ring and a letter addressed to his wife with the words, “To the love of my life.”
  
Police say they saw an expended shell on the ground next to his feet.  
           
Reyes, an original resident of Dangriga, had been living at the business premises for about two years.
           
The last time Reyes was seen alive was yesterday at around 10:00 a.m. When no one saw him after that, it was thought that he had probably left for his hometown, Dangriga.
  
Up to 8:15 this morning, no one could imagine that Reyes, who did not seem to have been troubled, was inside his room, dead, in the middle of downtown San Ignacio.
  
Last night, neighbors said that the television in Reyes’ room was very loud, something quite unusual.
  
Yet more unusual is that no one in the area, where some banks and the market are located, heard the sound of the single gunshot that killed him. A resident in the area told us that even if they had heard the gunshot, it could have easily been mistaken for the sounds of “pop shots” and firecrackers, since these have already been heard in the anticipation of the Christmas holidays leading to the New Year.
           
A friend, ex-employee of SOS, went looking for Reyes this morning. He called out several times for him, but there was no answer.
  
The friend then went to the back of the building and began calling, but yet, there was no response.
  
Concerned, the friend then went by Reyes’ window, pulled the curtain on the side and this was when he saw him lying on the bed.
   
Corporal Samuel Bonilla is Reyes’ brother. He travelled today to San Ignacio after receiving the devastating news. We met him outside the San Ignacio Police Station.
           
Bonilla told us that Reyes appeared well the last time he saw him, although he had been taken to the hospital about a week ago complaining of chest pain.
           
As to whether Reyes took his own life, Bonilla said he wished to remain neutral. He said the matter was now in the hands of the police.  
           
Meanwhile, a close friend of Reyes said that Reyes would have never chosen to commit suicide.
           
Police have since processed the scene and recorded statements.
 
Reyes was the father of a son, named after him.

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