While families all across Belize were getting ready for Christmas, Patrick Kerr, a 32-year-old family man and father of 10, was gunned down as he waited for a haircut. His family grieves for him but they also accept that it may have been his past which may finally have caught up with him.
Police say that Kerr and a 24-year-old construction worker of #24 Racoon Street were seated on the verandah of a small food stall in front of the compound of Special Education Unit on Freetown Road.
The men were approached from behind by a dark-complexioned man of slim build, who was wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans pants. This man took out a black handgun from his pants waist, pointed it toward Kerr and the 24-year-old man and fired several shots at them. Four of the shots found their mark on Kerr’s body. The 24-year-old man escaped unharmed.
Bernadine Stevens, Kerr’s mother, told Amandala that Kerr made it to the hospital, but died while undergoing treatment.
Stevens said that the reason Kerr was on Freetown Road was because he was getting a haircut. The barber was not at home and they had to wait for him. He didn’t even see the gunman coming.
She said that he may have died because of an old dispute. She said that he had his problems with other people on the street.
“He was no saint, but he was our angel. He was loved by many, and not well liked by many also.” Stevens said.
She also told us that this is the third family member that her family has lost. She said that they murdered Dean Belisle, the father of her daughter, on July, 2003, in the very same yard in which we spoke to her. She said that her son, Norman Reyes, was murdered in January, 2008.
She said that she has lost a lot, and is hurting badly, but that she and her family will seek the solace of God and ask him to deal with the situation as he sees fit. She says that she doesn’t even harbor ill-will or vengeance against her son’s killer.
Kerr was no stranger to gun violence; he was shot multiple times in September, 2008.