BELIZE CITY, Mon. Feb. 28, 2022– A string of shooting incidents were reported to police over the weekend.
The first reported incident occurred on Thursday afternoon, February 24. At about 2:28 p.m., 18-year-old Joshua Jones was leaving a residence on Central American Boulevard along with a companion of his, when a gunman rode up towards both Jones and his companion and fired several gunshots in the direction of the men.
The apparent assailant then fled from the scene through Matura Street. Jones, who was wounded as a result of the gunfire, was taken to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (KHMH), where he was listed in a stable condition
Later that day, 36-year-old Ralph McField and 20-year-old Jovanni Gabourel were shot at around 7:00 p.m.
According to initial reports, both McField and Gabourel were standing in front of the Mount Olives Seventh Day Adventist Church when a white van passed by and several gunshots were fired by the occupants of that van. Both McField and Gabourel were wounded in the lower part of their bodies.
One person has been detained in connection to that shooting.
On that same night, at another location, 43-year-old David Tillett was shot in the lower part of his body while socializing in front of a car wash located on Vernon Street. Reports suggest that while Tillet was socializing at the carwash, an unknown gunman emerged from Magazine Road and fired several shots at him.
His assailant then ran towards Cemetery Road and escaped.
Tillett was transported to the KHMH, where he was admitted and is listed in a stable condition.
Following those shooting incidents on Thursday, eighteen-year-old Leonard Castro, a local fisherman, was shot in the elbow on Friday. Castro was at a house in an alley on Lakeview Street in the vicinity of Banak Street in Belize City when a barrage of bullets was fired at him, but he quickly ran towards Lakeview Street and he escaped from further harm.
Castro was taken to the KHMH, where he was treated for an injury to his elbow that he sustained during the shooting. He is listed in a stable condition.
Police have yet to determine the motive for the shooting.
“Every shooting within the country of Belize is of grave concern to us. Whether a person was hit or not, it is very concerning, and in this case, Mr. Castro was injured. Thankfully, he’s in stable condition, but we have patrols in that area. We have officers actually doing foot patrols also in that zone,” said Communications Director for the Belize Police Department, ASP Fitzroy Yearwood.
Police have not indicated as yet whether previous attempts have been made on Castro’s life.