Another Belize City man is dead today after he was shot to death Saturday morning by a group of young men who were allegedly driving in a red SUV. The youth, Alpheus Smith, 22, who is no stranger to the media and was said to be driving a vehicle himself, died while undergoing treatment at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (KHMH).
Tonight, his family members are mad because while they were planning Alpheus’ funeral, police stormed into their residence, #133 George Street, after firing many shots in the yard. About ten men were detained by police, who reportedly broke the jaw of Alpheus’ elder brother, Gerald “Shiny” Tillett, 27, at the police station. Gerald’s jaw, broken after he was beaten with a police baton, is swollen, and he remains handcuffed to his hospital bed tonight.
This afternoon, three men, Lester Young, a 19-year-old boat captain boat of a Mangrove Street address, Jody Gentle, 20, a laborer of #2 C Antelope Street, and a minor who is said to be the younger brother of one of the accused, appeared in Belize City’s Magistrate’s Court #1, where the trio were read charges of murder. They were remanded to the Hattieville Prison until Wednesday, June 26.
A police report said that sometime around 7:45 a.m. on Saturday, June 16, when the sun was already shining brightly, Smith, better known as “Juneberg,” had just finished changing a tire on his Jeep vehicle, license plate C-12026, which was parked on Curassow Street. He was re-entering the vehicle when he was shot to death by two men armed with guns who suddenly approached him.
Junebird was shot several times in his neck and other parts of the body, said police. After shooting Junebird, the men ran towards Antelope Street to a waiting red SUV. The men were seen by two off-duty police officers, one of them being Senior Superintendent Chester Williams. The policemen quickly pursued the SUV in their private vehicle.
According to the report, police said that they “intercepted the vehicle as the young men got in. The two young men, including the driver, were detained by the two officers who were able to retrieve two handguns. One a 9mm pistol and the other a .38 revolver with five expended shells.”
The injured driver was later identified as “Alpheus,” said police. They took him to KHMH, but he died while undergoing treatment.
Alpheus, was, to repeat, no stranger to the media. As late as last year, he was charged jointly with another young man for allegedly shooting at Kenneth “Big Tom” Flowers and James Young, Sr., according to a police report. This shooting incident took place, notably, after a truce meeting was held between the two rival gangs, Bak-a-town and George Street. The truce had been announced by the Belize Police Department about a month before.
Smith had been charged with three counts of attempted murder, two counts of deadly means of harm and two counts of dangerous harm, after it was reported that police investigations revealed that he and the other man charged were seated in the back seat of a vehicle that passed and fired several shots at James Young, Sr.’s vehicle.
Amandala tonight spoke with both Shiny’s and Juneberg’s aunt, Stephanie Smith, said that she received a call sometime after 4:30 this evening, informing her that police were shooting at a lock on her sister’s house at #133 George Street, where she was headed. When she got there, the police, even after searching and finding nothing incriminating, took the group of men who were there planning Juneberg’s funeral.
As a result of the police shooting, one of the men, John Baptist, who was underneath a vehicle in the yard repairing it, was grazed in his foot, said Stephanie. He was taken to the hospital, said Stephanie, and police told them that he had not been shot, but had been cut by the metal on the vehicle. Stephanie disputes that, because Baptist has a piece of the bullet in his foot, she said.
It was shortly after police had detained the ten men and taken them over to the Eastern Division Headquarters that a vehicle drove by on George Street and fired at the Chinese grocery store, two houses away from the Smith’s residence.
Alpheus leaves behind one son, age 2; six sisters, 3 brothers, his mother, Bridgette Smith, his father, Alpheus Smith, Sr. A post-mortem performed today confirmed that he was shot 14 times in various parts of the body.