BELIZE CITY Mon. Jan. 24, 2022– In early November of last year, a double murder occurred at Matilda’s Mini Mart in Burrell Boom Village. The two victims were handyman Dennis Brown, 27, and co-worker, Kendra Miguel, 21, both of whom were employees of the establishment. When police arrived at the scene, they found the two workers’ motionless bodies.
Initial reports indicated that both employees were at their workplace when a gunman arrived on a motorcycle, entered the establishment, and fired several fatal shots at them, and then made good his escape.
That was almost two months ago. On Friday, there was another shooting at Matilda’s Mini Mart that caused the death of the owner of the shop, Leslie Naaman Gillett, 37, a resident of the Fresh Pond Community. After receiving reports of a shooting incident at the store, police went to the scene, where they found Gillett in a motionless state. Reports have revealed that at around 5:25 p.m., five male persons arrived at the establishment to purchase some items, and when Gillett turned his back to them to make his way to the counter, one of the men pulled out a firearm, and fired several shots at Gillett, which caused fatal injuries.
“We have several persons being questioned in connection with this, and hopefully the information that the investigators have gathered so far will become useful that can lead to some kind of detention and hopefully an arrest,” said Communications Director for the Belize Police Department, ASP Fitzroy Yearwood.
When asked whether in fact Gillett had been the intended target of the gunman who killed his two employees in November, Yearwood stated, “We have interviewed some persons that believe so, but we can’t just believe. We at the Police Department have to try to stick to the facts and rely on that to try to bring some kind of clarity. People in the village are rumoring that; I will not deny that, but we here cannot go on rumors unless proven otherwise, and we will try to piece it together.”
Police are still investigating the murders of both Brown and Miguel, as the case remains unsolved.