Yesterday around 4:05 p.m., in a broad daylight shooting just across from a popular Chinese fried chicken business – “Kick Down Fence,” two friends were inside a red Cherokee Jeep at the corner of Dean Street and East Collet Canal Street when a lone gunman rode up to them from the direction of the Dean Street bridge and began firing.
Ian “Horse” Reid, 31, a laborer of a Rivero Street address, was shot through the neck. The single bullet, police said, after exiting Reid’s neck, went through Steven “Cat” Arnold’s arm and into the left side of his abdomen.
Tonight both men are receiving treatment at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, but the prognosis for Horse is not good. He is in a comatose state, while Cat is listed in a stable condition.
Cat Arnold, 34, a resident of #16 Zericote Street, and Horse Reid were sitting inside Horse’s jeep when the incident occurred.
Relatives we spoke with this evening said that the doctors told them that Reid may be paralyzed.
While Arnold is up and can speak, police say that he is not cooperating with them, and they are clueless as to whom the gunman was.
Four days ago, on September 23, Curlin Felix, 30, died after being shot three times on Central American Boulevard. He was with Kevin Hendy, 34, who was shot in the foot and grazed in the back.
A “gang-related” youth told us today that the word on the street was that Arnold-Reid shooting was in retaliation for the Curlin Felix shooting.
Many of their friends went to the hospital to visit Reid and Arnold today, but police took some of the men into custody, while others were searched and released.
Some of those same men picked up by police were a part of the late evening meeting with police that took place at the Queen Street Police Station. The meeting began at 3:00 p.m. and ended around 5:00 p.m.
According to police, the meeting was held in an effort to try to bring to an end the violence in Belize City, which has claimed several lives and left many with serious injuries.
Prior to the shooting, we were told, Arnold had had his 5-month-old son in his arms, but had given him to relatives to hold.
The shooting occurred in an area that is usually filled with residents, especially children, who frequent the area to buy fried chicken.