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He kissed his grandmother 56 times, then was shot dead

HeadlineHe kissed his grandmother 56 times, then was shot dead

BELIZE CITY, Mon. Aug. 31, 2015 –The never-ending gun violence in the city continues, and at about 8:30 Saturday night, Malique Jair Dixon, 20, of Mahogany Street Extension, was shot multiple times by a gunman who approached him from a little side street linking Flamboyant Street to Casuarina Street, and who then escaped out of the area after the shooting.

    Dixon was riding his bicycle on Flamboyant Street, from Mahogany Street. He tried to escape from the murderous gunfire from his attacker, who was in front of him, and rode towards Vernon Street, but he collapsed after he was hit in the chest, and fell by a wooden bridge near a zinc fence.

       The injured Malique Dixon was rushed to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (KHMH), where doctors tried to save him, but he died shortly after.

        Police who were in the area arrived at the scene of the shooting within 5 minutes, but Dixon had already been rushed to the KHMH. Police then went to the hospital, where they saw him suffering from gunshot wounds in the lower back, under the left arm pit and chest.

       His body has since been taken to the morgue, where it will undergo a post-mortem exam to certify the cause of his death.

      Police said that they believe that the shooting was gang-related. Dixon was a known affiliate of the street gang known as Ghost Town, of Mayflower Street, and he was shot by a member of another group known as PIV, of the Lake Independence area.

       Senior Superintendent of Police Chester Williams said that after the shooting on Saturday night, they began an intense investigation that led to a member of the PIV gang, who has been detained.

      The Commander said that since the beginning of his department’s Campaign for Peace, which involves community policing efforts in the southside of Belize City, only one person has been killed in the month of August, which is Dixon.

       Joseph Hemsley, Dixon’s grandfather, said that on Saturday, his grandson was extra jovial. He was dancing in the yard, drinking Guinness, hugging everyone, and having fun. Throughout the day he was in a good mood, and in high spirits, Hemsley said.

       Karen Hemsley, his devastated grandmother, told Amandala that he died happy. He was in a good mood when he left their house to go to his relatives. She said he hugged her and kissed her 56 times as she entered the yard, she said, after which they made arrangements to travel to Melchor on Sunday,

       Hemsley said that she was at her house on Saturday night when they got a call from his phone from the Karl Heusner Emergency Room, informing them that he had died. They were beside themselves in disbelief. They rushed to the hospital, and received the devastating confirmation that he had indeed died.

       The death of Dixon has brought back devastating memories to his neighbor, who told Amandala that on November 27, 2012, a gunman went to her house, where her two sons were playing music, and asked for Malique Dixon, and when her sons told them that Malique did not live there, the gunman did not believe them, and opened fire, shooting the eldest of her two sons, William Felix Francis, 22, multiple times in the head and body.

       Francis died almost immediately, but his younger brother managed to jump through the window of the house and escape. The gunman then ran out of the area.

       Malique Dixon was deeply saddened by the incident, said the neighbor, and he went to console her, the mother of the boys, and she forgave him.

       The killer was captured shortly after, and he was charged for the murder of Felix Francis. He has since been remanded to the Belize Central Prison, awaiting trial at the Supreme Court.

       Dixon is the second of three sons. He is survived by his mother, two brothers, his grandparents – Joseph and Karen Hemsley, and a host of relatives and friends. Funeral arrangements have not yet been made.

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