It was heart-wrenching today to see an only child, Shamira Chun, age 5, with tears welling in her eyes and hugging her mother after hearing that her daddy had been shot to death. What makes matters worse is that the family was preparing to celebrate Shamira’s sixth birthday this Sunday, on November 26. The plan has dramatically changed from celebrating a birthday to mourning for a funeral day.
This morning Shamira’s father, Fortunato Chun, 28, a security guard employed with KBH who reported to work at Belize Water Services Limited (BWS) this morning for 6:00, was shot to death only minutes after he got to his work. An interview with the public relations officer of BWSL, Anne-Marie Thompson, revealed that it is not certain whether the shooter entered the compound.
Thompson said that she believes the shooting was not the result of a robbery attempt. The security guard was somewhere between the booth at the entrance of the compound and the gate when he received the fatal shot in his neck.
Amandala tried to find out if BWS has cameras situated at the gate, but Thompson was afterwards unavailable for comment.
According to a police report, Chun was shot at close range in his neck. The motive for the shooting, said police, was Chun’s licensed 9mm pistol, which was not found in his possession. A security guard was similarly shot on Wednesday morning, May 31, 2006, for his weapon.
Oliver Blanco, 58, a resident of the Port Loyola area, was shot to death as he rode his bicycle back to work after someone called him and told him that his house was being robbed. It was believed that he was lured to his death.
Blanco was shot three times, once in the back of his neck. Police were able to detain two men and charge them for the murder, after discovering Blanco’s gun and the murder weapon underneath a house in the Yabra area.
Fortunato’s brother, Eduardo Chun, also a security guard and employed at Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, was the first to receive the terrible news of his brother’s shooting, and also of his passing.
Eduardo said that he arrived at work this morning for 7:00 and was told that his brother was in the Accident and Emergency (A&E) section of the hospital because he had been shot at his worksite.
He did not believe the news and therefore went to check himself. His brother was still alive, but was being attended to by doctors. He hurriedly went to Fortunato’s home to inform his common-law wife, Claudia Pook, a resident of Coffin Street, about the terrible news.
Claudia told Amandala that she was cooking at the time when her brother-in-law came to the house. He sat down and told her that Fortunato, with whom she had been living for the last eight years, had been shot. She told him that he was joking, not wanting to believe the news. But the look in Chun’s eyes clearly showed that it was no joke.
She turned off the stove and quickly got dressed, informing her daughter then that her father had been shot and that they would go to the hospital to see him. Sadly, though, when Claudia got to the station, Fortunato had already taken his last breath.
As she cried and her body shook, Claudia said, “Only God knows why they shot him. He left home happy to go to work.” Claudia said that she does not know her common-law husband to have any enemies, that he is someone who is normally at home.
Eduardo Chun told the newspaper that he had received the call from the hospital while he was waiting for his sister-in-law but just could not tell her.
The deceased, Fortunato Chun had been living in Belize City from a very young age after migrating from San Antonio in the Toledo District. He leaves behind his mother, Theodora Chun; his father, Pablo Chun; his common-law wife, Claudia Pook; his daughter, Shamira Chun; seven brothers; three sisters, and a host of other relatives and friends to mourn his death.
The funeral arrangements have not yet been made. The post mortem is scheduled for tomorrow.