_{(l-r) Mark Waight, deceased and Peter Lara, charged}

by Charles Gladden

BELIZE CITY, Mon. Jan. 27, 2025

A Belize City man has been charged in connection with a fatal shooting on Central American Boulevard in Belize City on Saturday night, January 25, which resulted in the death of a man and the wounding of a woman. The victims have been identified as Mark Waight, also known as “Pito”, a 24-year-old fisherman, and 33-year-old Francine Herbert, a domestic worker of Pitter Street.  

_{Francine Herbert, injured}

Before the shooting took place, there was a group of persons socializing at a residence on Central American Boulevard near its intersection with Fabers Road and in the vicinity of the Muslim Community Primary School. Sometime before 10:30 p.m., a disagreement reportedly broke out between Waight and 22-year-old Peter Lara, a Belizean construction worker, who then pulled out a firearm and sprayed more than a dozen bullets at the persons in the group.

Waight was fatally wounded and died at the scene. Police later found his lifeless body partially submerged in a drain. Herbert, who was also wounded, was rushed to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital and remains in a critical condition as of print time.

Waight is known to police, as he has been arrested for several crimes. Notably, he was acquitted of several murders that he was accused of committing, including that of Kremandala’s very own journalist, Kareem Clarke, in 2015. He had also faced an attempted murder charge in that same year.

Police are still trying to determine what led to the disagreement between the shooter and the deceased.

Police recovered several expended 9-millimeter shells at the scene, and Lara has been charged with murder in connection with Waight’s death.