_{Photo: Julian Reynolds, out on bail}

by Charles Gladden

BURRELL BOOM, Belize District, Mon. Apr. 8, 2024

In Friday’s edition of Amandala, it was mentioned that 27-year-old Malcolm Reynolds, a construction worker of Lemonal Village, Belize District, was shot to death at the bus stop on the Philip Goldson Highway at the junction of the Burrell Boom/Hattieville Road. The initial report indicated that his death was triggered by an argument in Burrell Boom during the Easter holidays; however, Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams said that his death was due to a rivalry among three neighboring villages.

Reports of the final moments of Reynolds’ life indicate that around 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 4, he was dropped off by an SUV at the said bus stop. Someone exited from that said SUV and blasted multiple shots at Reynolds, killing him at the scene, and then the SUV headed in the direction of Burrell Boom.

At the time of the report, the mother of the deceased, Cherry Reynolds told the national media that her son was innocent, as the feud was between men from Double Head Cabbage and Bermudan Landing.

She also noted that it is believed that her other son – Julian Reynolds – had an incident in which he was caught up in Boom where he had injured someone with a machete, and that incident may be what led to Malcolm’s demise.

ComPol Williams told the media on Monday, April 8, that the feud is among three villages, the two listed above and also Lemonal. He noted that several persons have been detained pending investigations, including one – Police Sergeant Walton Banner – who was charged with obstructing police, as cops attempted to detain Julian.

ComPol Williams expressed that an attempt was made to end the tension among the three neighboring communities; however, members from the Lemonal group were a no-show.

“During that intervention session, a lot of information was shared in respect to what caused the beef, and what can be done to resolve the beef. A number of the key players from the Lemonal faction were absent, so we could not have had the intervention in such a way that we believe the matter could be [ended]… While we try to do this, we still see that [some] persons from Lemonal continue to go on social media and are instigating violence. I don’t think that is going to make the situation any better,” he said.

He went on to say, “In some cases, we’re seeing where the violence has been pushed by women; and in some cases, matters of these young men who are involved in these ongoing feuds, as parents, I would want to think that you would be more responsible and would try to guide your child or your children to act civil, and not to be involved in these types of activities. But when we see that parents are involved to the extent of riling up their children to behave in an uncivil way, then it makes you wonder what kind of parent they are.”

ComPol Williams noted that one of the root causes of the problem is that many of the officers deployed in the area are affiliated with one of the villages having issues, in regard to which he expressed that there will be an adjustment.

Malcolm Reynolds’ body lies at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital morgue awaiting a postmortem examination.