_{Photo: (l-r) Marvin Pook and Anthony Young, deceased}

by Charles Gladden

BELIZE CITY, Wed. May 15, 2024

Two Belize City men were slain on Belize City’s Southside on Tuesday night, May 14, with one of the victims instantly perishing at the scene and the other passing away while being transported to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (KHMH) for medical treatment.

The deceased were identified as a 20-year-old call center agent, Marvin Pook, and 30-year-old Anthony Young, an employee of the Leadership Intervention Unit (LIU), both of whom resided in the same area in which they were killed.

Reports surrounding the incident are indicating that sometime after 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, the duo were socializing alone at the basketball court on North Creek Street when a motorcycle approached with two men on it.

One of the men dismounted the motorcycle, walked toward both victims, fired multiple gunshots at them, and then fled the scene on the motorcycle. Pook died shortly after, while sitting on a nearby bench. Young, on the other hand, survived the shots for a short while, but died en route to the KHMH.

Associates of the deceased told Amandala that neither of the men were involved in any illegal activity at the time, as they were employed and didn’t associate themselves with any street figures. Despite those claims, ACP Hilberto Romero, Regional Commander for the Belize Police Department’s Eastern Division, told local reporters that the men were known characters to the Police Department.

He also mentioned that the shooting stemmed from a fight that the duo were involved in earlier on Tuesday, May 14; but he did not mention whether the police knew how the fight started. Police are reportedly searching for several other persons who were involved.

Police are still trying to gather the pieces of information related to the shooting, as it is unclear who was the intended target, or if both men were.

ACP Romero noted that several persons are in police custody pending investigations.