BELIZE CITY, Tues. Mar. 8, 2022– While socializing on Saturday afternoon, March 5, with two men he considered his friends, 23-year-old Emroy Tracey, an employee of Emerald BPO, was stabbed multiple times in the yard of neighbors of his after reportedly refusing to comply with a request they made. He died shortly after.
Police have indicated that Tracey was at the corner of Curassow and Iguana Street when he got into an altercation with the two men, who had reportedly eaten at his home on multiple occasions and were considered “sons” by his (Tracey’s) mother. During the altercation, one of the men took out a knife and proceeded to stab Tracey several times, which caused severe stab wounds and bleeding that compounded his sickle cell condition and caused his death.
David Cadle, Tracey’s stepfather, has indicated that on the night before, while he, Cadle, was at work, the two men had been socializing with Tracey and Tracey “gave them whatever small change he had in his pocket”. Cadle said he was told that the men then asked for food, and that Tracey’s mother (Cadle’s common-law wife) had told Tracey to give them the food they requested.
He went on to relate, “In the morning, they said hello to my missus on her way to and from [the] market, and in the afternoon while I was about to take a shower, because I was working again in the night, I heard banging on the door: “MAMS, THEY KILLING YOUR SON OVER THERE,” so I hurried [to] put on my pants and I went across only to see my stepson there on the ground with blood all over the place. All I could have done along with a police officer, because the police [were] already there, to put him in the truck and take him to the hospital. That’s what transpired between Friday and Saturday [at] 3 o’clock.”
Previously, Tracey considered these men his close friends, and had shared with them whatever he had. It appears that it was possibly because he had not complied with their most recent request for money on Saturday that he was killed. Cadle believes the motive behind his stepson’s killing was pure greed for money.
“I can only surmise that they wanted money from him, because he had money on him, and he was unwilling, and that’s my summation. And he works hard for his own money, and he doesn’t really have any other persons he calls friends, except those two young men. They come here. They get what they ask for from him, from my wife, and we treat them like our own, and to only do this to him. The question is very burning, ‘Why?’” said Cadle.
Emily Spencer, Tracey’s sister, echoed those sentiments. She emphasized the fact that her brother was undeserving of the type of death he suffered. “I would’ve understood if my little brother was out there harassing people, meddling, getting into trouble, and [having] a record. But, like I said, my little brother, did nothing to anyone. My little brother won’t talk to anyone if you don’t talk to him. He won’t mess with you … My mother didn’t teach us to be out there harassing people. Why did they have to kill him for? They could’ve beat him up or [done] him something, but they didn’t have to stab my brother so many times. My brother asked them, ‘Why are you killing me for?’ I just want justice for my little brother. I don’t want any retaliation; we don’t want any problem, and we don’t want anything, because we are not like that. We’re just asking for justice and asking for anybody out there that knows anything to just please come forward and give your statement.”
In frustration, Cadle mentioned that several persons were in the yard during the stabbing incident and did nothing to intervene to prevent Tracey’s death.
“I asked, ‘Why couldn’t anybody [try] stop this?’ ‘Oh nobody big was here; lone female in the yard.’ I said, ‘Geez! You mean you people in this yard, even lone females deh yah, no board, no nothing laying around in the yard that you could use to stop these two from doing what they were doing?’ ‘Oh, we don’t keep any board in the yard because of the children.’ What kind of nonsense is that? Even if it was with the frying pan, hit one of them in the head or something,” said Cadle.
Police have formally arrested and charged Gilroy Thomas, 26, a Belizean security guard, and Tyrique Swaso, 24, a Belizean construction worker, jointly for the crime of murder.
Tracey had been working at Emerald BPO since October 2021.