Jiovanni Harim Lauriano, also known as “Nose,” a laborer of Mile 17 on the Western Highway, was murdered at around 6 o’clock last night in Hattieville as he was coming back from visiting a relative in Belize City.
Neither his grieving wife, his family nor the police has any clues as to the motive for his murder. The family, who had not yet gone to the morgue to hear the doctor’s report, reluctantly spoke to Amandala about the tragic circumstances under which Lauriano met his end.
Lauriano’s sister-in-law spoke to us, and said that the family, along with his wife and stepdaughter, had gone on a weekend vacation, and they suspect that he had taken the free time to visit a relative in Belize City.
She said that the family, while coming back, received a call that he had been murdered. She said that she spoke to several witnesses, who told her that they saw him driving his vehicle by Mile 16 1/2, which is in Hattieville, when another vehicle with several passengers, which had apparently been waiting for him as it had been reportedly circling the area in the afternoon, drove up beside him and a gunman opened fire.
The bullet hit one of the back windows, and she believes that the men forced him off the road.
She said that Lauriano then jumped out of the vehicle and several men from the other vehicle set chase after him as he ran into the bushes. She said that witnesses heard approximately three gunshots, and the men then returned to their vehicle, which the driver had turned around. The men then headed in the direction of Belize City.
Lauriano’s sister-in-law told us that a family friend saw his vehicle on the side of the road and thought it was an accident. The friend went to investigate and when the witnesses told him what happened, he went into the bushes and found Lauriano apparently dead, with a gunshot to the head.
The police say, however, that Lauriano was shot multiple times in the head. The body was transported to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, where it was pronounced dead on arrival. It now awaits a post-mortem to confirm the cause of death.
Lauriano has been caught up in the legal system a number of times. In January 2010, he was charged with customs offenses concerning the importation of a gun. In July 2008, he was charged with unlawful carnal knowledge.
Unconfirmed reports are that his murder was an act of retaliation by a gang.
Meanwhile, his wife, adopted daughter, and his extended family are left to grieve his loss.