BELIZE CITY, Mon. Jan. 28, 2019– On Saturday evening, Johvanney Tablada, 23, left his family’s home on Neal Pen Road to go to a party on Fabers Road Extension that the family of an ex-girlfriend of his was having.
After leaving the party early, he received a phone call and decided to return to the party. That would be the last time Tablada’s family would see him alive.
While he was in the yard at the party, someone shot him multiple times. He sustained gunshot injuries to the right cheek, neck and upper right thigh. He was rushed to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, but was pronounced dead on arrival.
When we visited the location of the shooting, a neighbor pointed out a woman who she told us was at the party at the time of the incident, but when we approached the woman for an interview, she declined to comment, saying, “I don’t know anything. I didn’t see anything.”
At today’s police press briefing, police told the media that they have no suspect at this time, but are investigating.
Police said that their initial investigation revealed that Tablada was approached by someone who fired shots at him.
Assistant Superintendent Alejandro Cowo told the media that police are investigating this homicide from three different angles. Cowo said, there is information about a woman being involved.
Police are also investigating several altercations in which Tablada was allegedly involved, and they are also considering this shooting as possibly being connected to the shooting incident at Pier 1 which occurred earlier this year when Asher Saunders was shot and killed inside the club.
Today, Amandala spoke with Johvanney Tablada’s grandmother, Velda Tablada, 65, who described for us how she found out that her grandson had been shot on Fabers Road Extension.
Sitting in her living room, and pointing to one of her daughters, Tablada said, “She got a phone call, telling her that her brother or someone close to her got shot on Fabers Road Extension. And we went to the hospital to check, and found out that it was Johvanney.”
“We didn’t know it was Johvanney, because he had just left from here about an hour before,” Tablada explained.
Tablada said that he went to an event at an ex-girlfriend’s house. “We don’t know who did it, or why,” she said.
We asked Tablada how long her grandson had been dating the young woman.
She described the relationship as being “an on and off thing.” “I tried to warn him,” she said.
Tablada added, “It was a day party that they were having, and he came home early, but she called him back. The person who shot him was waiting for everyone to move from around him. It was a direct hit meant for him, that’s how I feel.”
Tablada said, “They had broken up, but she was coming back around.”
Tablada said that her grandson, who is a father of two young children, was not involved in any kind of gang activity.
“I tried to warn him, because I didn’t trust the girl’s behavior,” Tablanda repeated.
“How do you move on from this?” we asked Tablada.
“It’s going to be hard, but I want no revenge. God will take care of it,” Tablada replied.
Tablada then explained that there were three shootings in front of her yard involving two of her sons. Two of the shootings were connected.
“Those two shooting incidents are already taken care of,” Tablada said.
The mourning grandmother explained that in the third shooting incident, someone had aggressively confronted one of her grandsons and his brother approached them and told them to leave his brother alone.
“But a man who was around and had nothing to do with it, took it upon himself and came and shot my other grandson. This shooting occurred in November last year and the bullet went through his neck without hitting anything vital,” Tablada explained.
“He is my other grandson who is at the hospital right now seeing about his brother’s death certificate,” Tablada revealed.
Tablada said her grandson was the quiet type who mostly stayed at home. He was still in a relationship with his children’s mother.
Johvanney Tablada was the father of two sons, ages 3 and 1.