CAMALOTE, Cayo District, Mon. Nov. 16, 2015–Two masked gunmen went into a house in Camalote about 8:00 Friday night, November 13, and one of them shot a teenage boy to death in front of his parents.
Police say that when they went to investigate reports of a shooting in Young Bank Road, Camalote, at the home of Eluterio Choc, 35, they saw the lifeless body of Choc’s son, Ivan Choc, 16, lying face up in a pool of blood in the house, with gunshot wounds in the upper right side of the head, the middle of the right forearm, the right leg and right knee.
Choc told police that he had just arrived home from work on Friday evening when his son asked him to go and buy fried chicken. He did so, and while they were eating the food in the house, they heard a knock on the door and when he went to open the door, two armed, masked men pushed their way into the house.
One of the men pointed a 9mm pistol at them, while the other man, who was armed with a pump-action shotgun, stood in front of his son and stared at him, and his son began to plead for his life, begging the man not to kill him.
The devastated father reported that the gunman then raised his gun and fired a blast at his son, hitting him in the arm and leg.
Choc said that his son again begged with the gunman not to kill him, but the bandit shot him again, this time in the head, and his son died almost immediately.
The second killer then suggested killing all of them, but the man with the shotgun replied that it was only the boy who was to be killed, and they both walked out of the house, reported Choc.
Present at the house at the time with the parents were two babies, 2 and 3 years old.
According to 7News, the gunmen also wanted the kill Ivan’s older brother, but he was at church at the time.
Police have since arrested two men and recovered a 12-gauge shotgun not far from Choc’s house. The gun has since been sent to the Forensic Department to determine if it was the gun that fired the shots that killed Ivan Choc.
The two men in custody are from Roaring Creek and they were arrested after police searched a room in the village and three 9mm rounds were found there. The men have since been charged with keeping ammunition without a gun license. They will be arraigned on the charges tomorrow at the Belmopan Magistrate’s Court, as police keep them in custody pending investigation into the death of Ivan Choc
Inspector Octaviano Victorin, Commander of Roaring Creek Police, reported that Ivan Choc had been shot a few weeks ago, on October 17, and that the person who they believe shot him is presently in prison.
Choc had been riding his bicycle from the cemetery to the Westar Gas Station when a gunman fired several shots at him. Choc was hit in the pelvic area.
The devastated father said that Ivan stayed in the hospital for almost two weeks until he was released on November 1, and thirteen days later, while he was recovering at home, they came to kill him at home.
The Commander said that the first shooting occurred after a basketball game in Roaring Creek on Friday, October 9, when an unknown masked gunman shot one David Cruz of Roaring Creek while he was walking home. Cruz was hospitalized for three days suffering from a gunshot wound in his right leg.
And a week later on October 17, Choc was shot in the area of Westar Gas Station. David Cruz was remanded to the Belize Central Prison for the attempted murder of Choc in relation to that shooting.
Twenty-seven days later, another attempt on the life of young Ivan Chuc, 16, was successful. On November 13, he was shot to death in his own home.
Superintendent Howell Gillett, Commander of Belmopan Police, told Amandala tonight that they believe that the shootings are related.