21.7 C
Belize City
Friday, March 29, 2024

World Down Syndrome Day

Photo: Students and staff of Stella Maris...

BPD awards 3 officers with Women Police of the Year

Photo: (l-r) Myrna Pena, Carmella Cacho, and...

Suicide on the rise!

Photo: Iveth Quintanilla, Mental Health Coordinator by Charles...

Accidental shotgun discharge kills Daniel Alford, 42

GeneralAccidental shotgun discharge kills Daniel Alford, 42

There is controversy over his death, however; police say he was killed by his own shotgun,  but his family says Alford didn’t own a gun, and that it is a case of murder.

GEORGEVILLE, Cayo District, Thurs. Sept. 6, 2018– Police are investigating the death of Daniel Alford, Sr., 42, a security guard of Georgeville, after he suffered a shotgun blast in the left side of his abdomen.

Initially, police had told us that at about 4:30 p.m. Monday, Alford was carrying a loaded shotgun while hunting on the Mountain Pine Ridge road (Cayo District), and he fell while climbing a rocky hill and the gun hit the ground and discharged into his abdomen.

When police went to the scene, they found a shotgun along with an expended shell, which was in the chamber. Myvette said they have not yet ascertained if the gun is licensed to anyone.

Today, during the weekly Thursday police press brief held at the Raccoon Street Police Station, ACP Joseph Myvette said that there are conflicting reports about the incident and they have scrapped their initial declaration of an accidental death and are now conducting a death investigation.

Myvette said they have received information (statements) from adults and minors that outlined several different scenarios:  that Alford left home with a gun; that he did not leave home with a gun; and that he did not have a gun.

The tragedy occurred at about 5:00 Monday evening about a mile from Alford’s house in Georgeville.

Alford’s two sons, who were in the area, said that they heard the shotgun blast and heard their father’s cry for help, and they went to him. One of the minors ran for help and the other stayed with his father. The minor who ran for help met a man and told him what had happened.

They then went immediately to Alford’s house and informed his common-law wife about the tragedy after which the man and the minor set out to find a vehicle to transport Alford to the hospital.

Sandra Rodriguez, Alford’s common-law wife, said that she was heading home from her workplace on her motorcycle and she met her husband, and he told her that he was heading for his pasture. About five minutes after she spoke with him she arrived home, and shortly afterward a man ran up and told her that her husband had been shot, she said.

Rodriguez said that immediately after being informed of the incident she went to the area and saw her husband bleeding from the wound he had suffered. She said her husband told her that someone had shot him.  Alford’s son who was with him said his father was ambushed when he entered the pasture.

Rodriguez said that there was a delay of about an hour in getting him to the hospital, because there was no means of transport available. Eventually the police arrived and took Alford, who was still alive and conscious, to the hospital.

Rodriguez said that her husband did not own a gun, and that he had applied for a gun license but it had not been approved. A family member of his insisted that Alford was not hunting. Instead, he had gone to his pasture to make a routine check of his cows and to round them up.

ACP Joseph Myvette said that they have a 16-gauge shotgun and the expended cartridge from the blast which they believe killed him. The investigation into this confusing case continues, as police await the result of a post-mortem exam scheduled for today.

Daniel Alford is survived by his five children, his common-law wife, and other relatives.

 

Check out our other content

World Down Syndrome Day

Suicide on the rise!

Check out other tags:

International