Food vendor Muriel Jones, 43, a resident of Apartment #4 on Poinsettia Street, has began to make funeral arrangements for her son, Elroy Flowers, 18, a.k.a. “Blueteeth,” one of two young men who were shot and killed about 10:20 on Monday night, January 22, on Casuarina Street in the St. Martin’s area of Belize City.
Elroy is Ms. Jones’ third child who has died within five years. One of her sons, Elwin, died at the age of 14 on May 3, 2001, allegedly from poison he drank from a bottle of stout. In 2002, about a year later, her daughter, Angela, 18, died from natural causes. Her only remaining child is Edwin “Drive” Flowers, 24.
When asked how she is coping with all her grief, Ms. Jones replied: “Sometimes I wish the earth would just open up and take me in.”
Another family, that of Adrian “Cuban” Espinoza, 22, the second young man who was fatally shot, is also in grief.
A third man, Michael Goff, 27, was also shot more than once. He is critical, but stable at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital.
The shooting occurred in Goff’s apartment, located in the same apartment building where Ms. Jones resides.
Michael Goff told Amandala today that they were all in the living room when the gunman entered the apartment from the kitchen door.
Goff said he and Espinoza were playing a video game while Elroy was sitting on the handle of a chair on the right side of the living room, watching the game and waiting for his girlfriend to come. Goff said he was sitting on a chair on the left side of the living room and Espinoza was sitting on a footstool between him and Elroy.
Goff said he jumped up when he heard what sounded like a gunshot, and saw the fan next to Elroy stop spinning. As he stood up he was confronted by the gunman, who pointed a pistol at him from less than 5 feet.
Michael Goff put up his hands in front of his face and the first shot the gunman fired at him went through the palm of his right hand, exited and went through his left forearm, exited and took off a small piece of his left ear before burying itself in his head behind the ear. As he began falling, another shot struck him, this time in the left side of his chest, said Goff.
Goff fell to the floor and pretended that he was dead. He made every effort to keep still and not breathe, he said. Playing “possum” worked, and that was what probably saved his life.
But Elroy and Espinoza were not so fortunate. As Elroy tried to scramble for cover, he was shot twice in the head and once on his left forearm.
Espinoza tried to escape through the front door, but found it locked. He was shot in the back of his head and back.
Goff, seeing that the gunman had left the apartment, got up and ran outside for help.
Ms. Jones, who was awakened by the sound of the gunshots, got out of bed, opened her front door and saw Goff running towards her, bleeding. She told Amandala that she took Goff in and he told her Elroy was still inside the apartment. But by the time she reached there Elroy was already dead, as was Espinoza.
Apparently, she said, the gunman’s target had been Edwin, her other son. But just before the shooting, Edwin, who had been outside, went inside his mother’s apartment because he became suspicious about a white Toyota Camry car that was seen cruising around in the neighborhood.
“Who they went for was not in the apartment, yet they went ahead and shot three innocent persons,” lamented Ms. Jones.
The bullet has been removed from behind Michael Goff’s ear. But the bullet that struck him in his chest has not been removed as yet.
On Tuesday, January 23, the day following the incident, the police arrested and charged Jamil Betancourt for the shooting.
Betancourt was charged with two counts of murder, one count of attempted murder, dangerous harm and use of deadly means of harm. No plea was taken from him when he appeared yesterday in the #1 Magistrate’s Court. The Chief Magistrate, Margaret McKenzie, remanded him into custody until February 2.
Before Betancourt was taken to court yesterday, the police held a press conference at Racoon Street Police Station to announce his arrest. Present at the conference were Police Press Officer, G. Michael Reid; Assistant Commissioner of Police, Crispin Jeffries, Sr., the officer in charge of Eastern Division; and Superintendent Chester Williams, who is in charge of Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB).
Williams, in answer to a question about the murders, insisted that the shooting was not gang-related and is not connected to any previous shooting. He also said the police have not yet determined the motive for the shooting.
Reid said it was good police work and the cooperation of the community that led to Betancourt’s quick arrest.
This shooting follows another shooting that happened December 29, 2006, in which three men were shot. Police afterwards called the gang leaders together and reported that they had brokered a truce, in which the leaders reportedly had said that they would not retaliate against each other after the shooting.