Photo: Shooting victims(l-r) Kenroy Elijio, Luis Ucan and Pedro Molina
by Charles Gladden
BELIZE CITY, Mon. May 15, 2023
There were multiple shootings over the weekend, but the men who were the targets of those shootings are fortunate enough to still be alive.
The most recent incident occurred on Sunday, May 14, just after midnight when Kenroy Elijio, 36, of Lucky Strike Village, Belize District, was targeted while in the old capital by an unknown gunman and another person.
According to reports, Elijio was socializing at the corner of Victoria Street and Price Alley among a group of persons when an unknown male approached the group and blasted a barrage of gunshots, which resulted in Elijio being wounded in the arm.
When the shots were heard, police went to the scene and returned fire, and an attempt was made to apprehend the men, but one man was able to escape in the direction of Rhaburn Alley and the other through another alley toward Victoria Street.
Elijio was transported to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital and is registered in a stable condition.
Police were later able to detain one of the alleged assailants and charges are to be levied. Meanwhile, the other is yet to be found.
No motive has yet been established.
The other shooting occurred in northern Belize in Orange Walk Town and involved Pedro Molina, 41, and Luis Ucan, 48, of Orange Walk Town.
According to reports, in the wee hours of Saturday morning, Molina and Ucan had just arrived at Molina’s residence after socializing at a popular nightclub, Hi5, which is situated near his home on Mahogany Street, when the duo was ambushed by two men.
According to reports, the two assailants, one of whom was armed with a firearm, while the other had a metal pipe, entered via Molina’s backyard, and their murderous motives were reportedly the result of a previous altercation between the men at the nightclub.
Molina was shot multiple times as well as beaten across the head and face with the metal pipe. Ucan was also shot multiple times.
Ucan is in a stable condition at the Northern Regional Hospital, while Molina was treated and discharged.
Authorities are seeking the two assailants involved in the incident.