BELIZE CITY. Fri. Aug. 21, 2020– This morning, Justin Steven Teck, 25, a security guard of a Hunter’s Lane address, passed away at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital due to complications from gunshot injuries he had suffered on the night of November 23, 2019. He was shot in the abdomen, head and back by an unknown gunman while he was walking on New Road, as he headed towards the Queen Street Police Station.
On our visit to the scene after the shooting, we had seen two pools of blood, which indicated that Teck had been shot about six feet from where he fell onto the pavement, which is where he was found.
Immediately after the shooting had taken place, a BERT ambulance had been called and Teck was rushed to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, where he was admitted in a critical condition
Although Teck had survived the shooting, his injuries had left him paralyzed, and he later began to suffer from ulcers and seizures. His condition took a turn for the worse today, nine months after he was wounded, and he died while receiving medical treatment.
Back in November of 2019, when the shooting had taken place, Assistant Commissioner of Police Joseph Myvett had informed the media in a police press brief held at the Raccoon Street Police Station that Justin Teck’s assailant, an unknown gunman, came through a side alley and shot him. The gunman then ran back into the alley and escaped.
The motive for the shooting is still unknown, and no one has been arrested for the shooting.
It was not the first time that Teck had been shot. On September, 27, 2011, he was walking on Freetown Road when two men approached him and fired at him. Teck was struck in the head and body and was rushed to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, where doctors admitted him in a critical condition.
Tech’s prognosis was grim, and they gave him a slim chance of survival, but he recovered.
Many believe that Teck was targeted at that time because he lived on Kelly Street and there is an ongoing rivalry between a gang on Kelly Street and a gang on Victoria Street.
In 2011, police charged two men for shooting Teck — Mark Gentle, 28, and Michael Gladden, 21, both of Belize City. They were jointly charged with attempted murder, dangerous harm, use of deadly means of harm and conspiracy to commit murder, and were remanded.
They were later granted bail, and while they were out on bail, Mark Gentle was shot and killed. The charges against Gladden later fell apart, and he was acquitted.