BELIZE CITY, Tues. Oct. 27, 2020– Last night at around 8:30, gunfire erupted in the vicinity of M&Y Street in the Lake Independence area in Belize City, and one man was left in a critical condition in the aftermath of the shooting. Investigators are now searching for clues.
The victim has been identified as Ernest Billary, 26, a construction worker.
Some reports are indicating that the victim was at his residence near the riverside when a boat drew near to the water’s edge and shots were fired by an unidentified gunman.
Upon hearing the shots, Billary ran for cover near the stairs of one of the houses nearby, and realized that he had been shot multiple times in the body. He was taken to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, where he is listed in a critical condition.
A friend of the victim told one media house in an interview, “A couple weeks ago, he told me that how a certain person came up to him, and tell him, ih deh ina the wrong area. Ih se, ‘yu no business back ya, you know’. That dah what ‘e tell mi.”
“And I said, ‘Ernest, you need fi go back dah front, ‘cause you no need no problem,’” the victim’s friend further said.
A senior police officer confirmed that indeed, the attack was gang-related.