According to Leonard?s friends, Beans? girlfriend was in the yard talking with her boyfriend and Leonard only moments before the shooting, but she left the conversation because her baby started crying. A close friend of Leonard told the newspaper that there were at least two other people in the yard apart from Leonard and Beans when the shooting occurred.

One person present at the time of the shooting told Leonard?s mother, Lavine Herbert, that he heard a commotion just outside the board fence, but by the time he saw the gun protruding through an opening in the fence, Leonard was already falling to the ground. The police believe that Leonard?s killer approached the fence using an alley that runs along Beans? fence.

Amandala spoke to Leonard?s stepmother, Salomie Jimenez, yesterday afternoon. She told the newspaper that about one week ago, Leonard had told her that he was being threatened. Jimenez said that Leonard told her that he was being followed, and that his stalkers were carrying guns. Leonard also told her that his stalkers had told him that he would not live to see Christmas, said Jimenez.

Jimenez commented that after he told her about the threats, he started to be more cautious, and he was always looking over his shoulder and seemed to be very nervous whenever he came to visit her on Cairo Street.

He never mentioned who was threatening him, or why his assailants wanted him dead, the stepmother said.

Jimenez added that on Monday, the day before Leonard was killed, he came to her house and spent the night; he had stayed there before but had moved out because he did not want to endanger the lives of his family members, she explained. The stepmother said that she found out from her son that night that his girlfriend was about two months pregnant with his first child.

Around 9:30 Tuesday morning, Leonard left his stepmother?s house, promising her that he would return directly after patching his bicycle tire at his friend?s house, so that he could go to the market for her. Jimenez said Leonard was that type of person, someone who was always willing to do favors.

Jimenez said that less than one hour after Leonard left her house, as she was talking with her neighbor, some of her family?s friends came to tell her about Leonard?s murder.

Amandala also spoke to Leonard?s biological mother, Lavine Herbert, and his stepfather, Mark Welch. Welch said that Leonard had told him about the threats several weeks ago. But Lavine Herbert said that Leonard did not tell her about the threats until recently, and she thinks it was because he did not want to worry her.

Herbert did say, however, that it was evident that her only son was in trouble. She told the newspaper that on several occasions, a group of males had come to her house on Peter Seco Street in the Lake Independence area, to inquire about Leonard?s whereabouts.

She recalled that he had been shot in the left side of his neck in early April of last year, in front of the Chon Saan Restaurant on Euphrates Avenue, and it seemed that ever since then, he had been running from his assailants. She commented that his assailants had meant for him to die, and when he survived, they came back to finish the job.

In the April 6, 2003, issue of the Amandala, the newspaper had reported that Leonard was shot at several times in that week. Additionally, several shots were fired at him at two different times on the night of the Chon Saan shooting. The newspaper also reported that in April, 2003, Leonard was receiving death threats in the days leading up to that shooting.

Herbert said that Leonard even left Belize City after he recovered from that shooting incident, and had gone to stay with his father in Lucky Strike Village. He had to leave because his assailants had apparently followed him there. Herbert told the newspaper that it was on his return to Belize City that Arnold moved in with her, and in the last few weeks of his life his assailants were in constant pursuit of him.

She said that several males known to be associated with a certain area of the city, came to her house asking for ?Black Bway,? Leonard?s street name, but she told them that she did not know anyone by that name. It was then that Herbert asked her son what was going on, and he told her that his assailants had made it known to him that he would not live to see this Christmas.

Shortly after that incident, a group of males had chased Leonard into his mother?s yard and had fired at him, but evidently they missed.

Herbert told Amandala that she last saw her son on Monday morning, when he left her house along with his girlfriend, after fixing a bicycle. Herbert said that one of Leonard?s friends had told her that they (his friends) had cautioned him about venturing into the West Street area, because it is believed that was the neighborhood of his stalkers. Herbert said, however, that she thinks her son still dared to venture into the neighborhood, despite warnings from his friends, because he was probably tired of running from them. He had told her only recently that he knew it was only a matter of time before they would kill him.

Leonard Arnold was shot on two separate occasions prior to his murder. Only a short while after the shooting in front of Chon Saan, he was also shot in his leg while he was on Amara Avenue. Both previous shootings happened a short distance from his stepmother?s house.

According to the post-mortem results, he died from a brain hemorrhage from head trauma caused by a gunshot wound.

He is survived by his mother, Lavine Herbert; father, Richard Arnold; stepmother, Salomie Jimenez; six sisters, one brother, two stepsisters, and a host of relatives and friends.