_{Photo: (l-r) Cyril Banner, Jr. and Jayden Young}

by Charles Gladden

BELIZE CITY, Mon. Oct. 28, 2024

Two men from Lemonal Village, Belize District, Cyril Banner, Jr. and Jayden Young were shot on Saturday, October 26 while socializing in a parked Nissan sometime after 9:00 p.m. in the Lords Bank area of Ladyville.

Information to Amandala is that the injured men were transported to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, where Banner was treated and released, and Young remains in critical condition.

Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams told reporters [that] authorities may have recovered a car they believe was used in the shooting. He also noted that the shooting reportedly stemmed from an ongoing feud between the [villagers of] Lemonal and Bermudian Landing.

“We know earlier in the year, we saw an increase of shootings in the Belize River Valley area, and we recently saw Miss Flowers was also shot on [Santa Barbara] Street in Belize City, and we also believe that her shooting is also a result of those feuds in that area,” he said.

“We have done a lot in terms of mediation, and meetings even with the various village councils trying to find a lasting resolution to the issue; but somehow it seems like these young men who are a part of this beef do not want to give up, and seem determined to go at each [other], and so we will intensify our operational efforts at them,” ComPol Williams said.

ComPol Williams mentioned that a meeting is set to be held in Lemonal to [try and] reduce the crime.

No one has been charged for the shooting.