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16+ shots fired in Lake I

General16+ shots fired in Lake I

BELIZE CITY, Wed. June 30, 2021– On Tuesday night at about 8:30, two young men in the Lake Independence area found themselves under heavy gunfire while they were arranging a transaction that was to involve the sale of a cellphone. The shooting occurred on Estella Metzgen Street.

According to one of the victims of the shooting, Rasheed Coffin, 19, he had gone to meet an acquaintance of his, 20-year-old Eric Castillo, who was to sell Coffin’s phone in exchange for a percentage of the earnings. According to Coffin, however, as he was about to hand the phone over to Castillo, an unknown assailant shot the phone out of his hand.

The two then proceeded to run as a hail of bullets were fired in their direction. Coffin received a gunshot injury to the elbow, while Castillo was shot in the back. Coffin believes his assailants were most likely some minors trying to boost their “street credibility”, since the assailants did not continue to pursue the two victims after firing the shots.

A homeowner whose home was perforated by the bullets told local media, “Last night, I wasn’t here physically when it happened, but as soon as it happened, my neighbors got in contact with me and they told me that my house got shot up, and they even said that my kids got shot up.” She emphasized that the members of her family are not troublesome people and they do not engage in much interaction with other residents in the community.

She said that she is particularly disturbed by the fact that her grandkids were at home and could have lost their lives, since some bullets reportedly whizzed past a sofa in which one of the children was sitting. It was a traumatic experience for the family. She said that her children have said that they want to move from the house because they feel unsafe.

“We can’t move because this [is our] property. We own [here]. I [am not making anybody] run me from nowhere. [The kids] basically grow up here for 4-5 years. I [am] with my common-law for over 7 years, you understand me. And I [will not] make nobody chase me from [here] right so for stupidness [that] I [don’t] know about,” she said. While relocating is not an option, she has said that she will try to have a fence constructed around her yard to restore a sense of security.

When interviewed by local reporters, the homeowner said that a number of items inside her home were damaged by the bullets, including a refrigerator which is an essential tool for her, since she is a food vendor. “We [are] food vendors and if [our] items [don’t] sell we have to bring that home. I [don’t] have nowhere [to] store it due to [how] the refridge get messed up, you understand me, I [don’t] really got nowhere to store it, to store the chicken,” she said.

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