BELIZE CITY, Mon. May 18, 2015–Between Friday and Sunday morning, there were two murders in Ladyville.

This evening, the officer in charge of the Ladyville Police, Inspector Fredrick Gordon, confirmed to Amandala that police have no suspect in custody for Sunday morning’s shooting that caused the death of Kenroy “Bouncer” Arnold, 29, at the home of Friday’s murder victim, Sylvin “Cruz” Encalada, 65, a security guard who was found dead at his workplace in Ladyville. Encalada had been found hanging over the ground of his security booth on the Cemento Maya Factory compound with a string tied tightly around his neck.

While police have not yet made any arrest in connection with that murder, Gordon said, police are seeking one suspect.

On Saturday night, however, some friends of the Encalada family went to the family’s home at 20 Perez Road to begin a nightly wake and to spend time with the family in this time of grief.

Arnold, who had been shot two months ago, and his two sisters were among the friends at the wake. The sisters had left earlier, but Arnold remained behind and was helping to pack some chairs.

Suddenly, there was a rustle from a clump of bushes at the southern corner of the yard, as a gunman emerged, firing at Arnold, an eyewitness said.

The sounds of the gunshot echoed inside the concrete bungalow house and one of the residents who was inside jumped off his bed and lay on the floor.

The resident spoke to Amandala on condition of anonymity.

“When I heard the gunshots, I also heard ‘Bouncer’ scream out, and I heard more shots fired,” he related.

The gunman saw another person, a woman, who also resides at the house, and he fired several shots at her, but she managed to run away, escaping injury.

Kazia Arnold, one of Kenroy Arnold’s sisters, said that earlier, she and another person had gone to buy food and then she saw her brother coming on a bicycle.

“Ras,” she called out to him, “I just di buy a food for you.”

“That was the last time I saw my brother,” Kazia recalled.

Kazia said that after she had brought the food, she went home to sleep. Sometime around 1:45 a.m., she heard a loud knock on the door of her room and her sister, Keria, said, “Gial, dem just shot up Kenroy.”

Kazia said that she went to a neighbor’s house and he took her to the scene, which is several blocks away from where she and Keria live.

“When we got to the scene, my brother was not there. They already took him to hospital, so I went to my friend Arlene’s house and I wake them up. But before we reach hospital, someone called Keria and told her that Kenroy dead,” Kazia said.

Kazia said she asked her friend who had taken her and her sister to the hospital to see their brother, to tell her what happened.

Her friend explained to her that Kenroy had been taking in some chairs and when she (the friend) looked, a man was standing in the adjoining yard with a “hoodie” on his head. He began to shoot at Kenroy. Kenroy fell and was carried inside the house. Kenroy then began to foam from the mouth, as he asked them to call the police.

Kazia said that she learned that, instead of rushing, the police proceeded at a leisurely pace when they took her brother to the hospital. In fact, the sister claimed, when police arrived on the scene, one of them took a look at her brother and said, “da Arnold!” and they did not treat the situation with any kind of urgency.

She said that they did not even place Arnold in the pan of the police pickup. “A man who was on the scene saw that they were moving slowly and he decided to lift my brother up and put him in the pickup,” Kazia explained.

For a previous shooting of Arnold, which had taken place in March, 2015, police charged Alrick Smith, 30, and Ronald Michael, 22, with conspiracy to commit murder. Michael was additionally charged with use of deadly means of harm and dangerous harm upon Kenroy Arnold.

Arnold was socializing at a yard on Woodpecker Street, when a vehicle pulled up and two men got out and fired several shots, hitting Arnold twice in the back and once in the left hand.

Kazia said that her brother did not intend to pursue the case against the two accused men.

Police said that Arnold has had run-ins with the law and is known to them. Two of Arnold’s brothers are presently on remand at the Belize Central Prison.
Arnold was the father of two children, who reside with their mother.