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Hattieville man executed in a hail of bullets

GeneralHattieville man executed in a hail of bullets

BELIZE CITY, Mon. Dec. 16, 2019– Phillip Roberts, 33, a resident of New Site, Hattieville, died in a hail of bullets after two gunmen ambushed him at his home on Friday around 8:30 p.m. Roberts had just finished eating and decided to go outside to throw away his leftovers, but when he pushed the door open and stepped outside, he was greeted with gunfire.

The first gunshot hit the plate he had in his hand and the bullet ricocheted, hitting him somewhere in the neck area. Roberts ran to the side of the property, but another gunman was waiting there for him, and he opened fire.

The bullets found their mark and Roberts fell to the ground. He was picked up and an attempt was made to rush him to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, but he died on his way to the hospital.

Roberts’ girlfriend was at the house at the time of the shooting, but she declined our request to interview her.

One of Roberts’ sisters, however, spoke to us. Shanice Estrada told us that she could not give us an answer to the question as to why her brother was gunned down in his yard.

“You hear all kinds of things. It’s like retaliation for a recent murder that happened here in Hattieville,” she said.

Estrada said that she got a call around 10:00 p.m. on Saturday night that her brother had been killed. She said that her family just wants to mourn and bury their loved one in peace.

Estrada said the police just processed the crime scene this morning “and that really get to me.” “There was not even a yellow tape to mark the spot where my brother fell”, Estrada said.

There were other people in the house, in addition to Roberts’ girlfriend, at the time of the shooting, according to Estrada.

Estrada said that after Roberts ran to the back, another gunman opened fire on him.

Estrada said, “they came to kill my brother; he was shot a total of 13 times. If they had told me that my brother had broken into a house and thief something, I wouldn’t mind that, because I know my brother was not a saint.”

“Just yesterday, my mother buried her baby sister, who was sick. She was at the wake in La Democracia when she got the call that they had just killed her son. We have never been through something like this before. This hurts,” Estrada said.

“That was my only big brother; they took him away from me. I have other brothers, but he was our protector,” Estrada said.

Two weeks ago, another Hattieville man was gunned down. Richard Smith lost his life to gun violence in Hattieville.

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