by Charles Gladden

BELIZE CITY, Mon. Mar. 25, 2024

As the past work week was ending and everyone was heading to their respective homes to wind down, blood splattered the streets of Belize City as gunshots were fired in front of Gwen Lizarraga High School on Friday evening, causing a former figure in the George Street gang, 43-year-old Elwin “ Ras Bobo” Lewis of Plues Street, to lose his life.

Reports indicate that at around 4:45 p.m., Lewis was on enemy turf on a motorcycle and was heading from Elston Kerr Street toward Central American Boulevard when his assailant, also on a motorcycle, approached him from the opposite direction and began to blast multiple gunshots at him.

Lewis was taken to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (KHMH) for medical treatment but perished shortly before 5:00 p.m.

Assistant Commissioner of Police, Hilberto Romero, Regional Commander of the Belize Police Department’s Eastern Division, confirmed to reporters that Lewis was in the area conducting a financial transaction when he was pounced on, and his belongings remained on his person when police arrived at the scene.

He added that Lewis was a changed man, and had left his criminal past behind him as he had not been in any trouble with police.

“It has been a while [since] we have dealt with him for any crime; so, yes, he was not a person that we had arrested recently for any crime,” said ACP Romero.

As mentioned above, Lewis was a changed man, and before his untimely demise, he was an employee of the Leadership Intervention Unit (LIU). Dominique Noralez, Chairperson for the LIU, spoke highly of Lewis, as he was a vocal and inspirational voice.

“When I first joined LIU in June of last year, Ras Bobo was one of the first people that I met with, actually, and [as] I mentioned earlier, he has been one of the most consistent people to speak with me pragmatically and with [the] utmost respect; like he didn’t [think] less of me because I was a woman or because I was younger. I think we meshed a lot; our personalities were much of the same, and so I know he was doing a lot of work,” she said.

She further mentioned, “His murder hit me hard for very many reasons, but also it was more shocking because I saw him probably 30 minutes before it happened. He was in front of me. They were signing for their checks; and because it was payday Friday, he signed for the check in front of me, and we [had] a bit of small talk because check day is always very hectic. So, he signed and he [went], and I got a message saying that he was in the shooting; and my contacts within the hospital, when I called to ask if he’s okay, the person asked me if I didn’t see the text that he died. And so, that made a huge blow for the whole office. It took the wind out of our lungs.”

Noralez explained that Lewis had plans to create a park for the children on the south side of Belize City to prevent further children from being caught up in gang life.

Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams echoed what Noralez mentioned, that Lewis was a crucial member of the LIU and will be missed. He also expressed that despite him being a target for his enemies, Lewis still maintained his composure as he moved around freely.

“We know that he did [have] issues with a particular group; and again, it’s a whole George Street faction. As you would know, there’s a division in the George Street faction, and there was a group that was against him. But, Bobo [has] always maintained his cool and, despite knowing that that division and that animosity was there, he still felt comfortable moving [to] the area where the other factions were, hoping that the fact that he has been an elder that he will be respected; but I guess what he had hoped for did not work out well for him,” he said.

No one has been charged for the crime yet, nor has a concrete motive been established; however, several persons were detained for questioning.

“We have [some] video footage that we are viewing. We have very good clues. It’s just a matter of us trying to put the pieces together. I will try to arrange for the investigators to see the DPP with the video footage and see if she’ll be able to provide some guidance to the police in terms of how we can proceed with the video footage that we currently have,” said ComPol Williams.