Ryan “Cash” Bennett, 25, of Gill Street in Belize City (also known as Ryan Felix), is stable at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital as of press time tonight, after sustaining gunshot injuries to both hands and in the chest following a shooting incident this evening.
Bennett reportedly was riding back home to the Felix residence after seeing his girlfriend sometime after 7:00 tonight, when near Excelsior High School on Fabers Road, two men riding together on a motor scooter approached him from behind and opened fire.
Bennett was rushed to the KHMH and family members waited anxiously outside for news as Amandala arrived just after 8:00.
Nearly two hours later, we spoke with Ryan’s brother, Terry Felix, who told us that the family has no idea who would target Ryan, especially since he does not frequently go out and has not been implicated in any recent criminal activity.
Bennett was one of four persons charged in 2008 with conspiracy to commit murder in the Valentine’s Day double murder of Roberto Torres and Eugene Flores, both 18, and the attempted murder of Ron Thomas, 24, on Gill Street, but according to Terry, Ryan, along with his fellow accused – Earl Hamilton, Albert Allen (deceased) and P.C. Gilbert Hyde, who was freed in March of 2008 – were freed of the charges sometime in 2009. A minor was remanded for actually pulling the trigger.
According to Ryan’s family, he was sitting up and talking and appeared to be weathering the trouble as he was taken inside the X-Ray room.
Terry tells us this is the third time his brother has been shot.
The five sons of the late Therese Felix – she died of an acute asthma attack at the age of 46 in October of 2008 – have more or less been in the news since May of 2006, when Tyrone, 24, was murdered.
Soon thereafter, it was Therese’s cousin, Kurlin, aka “Cluck Cluck,” in September, 2006, and then her youngest son, Faron, 16, in December of 2007. Roy Bennett was shot at in two separate incidents within four months of each other, and was then arrested and charged for the murder of Michelle Cattouse on the Belcan Bridge on February 8, 2008; he remains on remand.
Ryan’s conspiracy arrest followed soon after. After Therese’s passing, it was Terry’s turn to face violence even as he continued the organization his mother started – Mothers Organized for Peace – when he was shot in April of 2009, along with another man, and now Ryan again.
Police investigations continue and no one has been detained at press time tonight.