Photo: Wellington Williams, deceased
by Kristen Ku
BELIZE CITY, Mon. Apr. 3, 2023
A 16-year-old Saint John’s College (SJC) student was shot to death on Saturday, April 1, while delivering food on Central American Boulevard in the vicinity of the Port of Belize compound. The deceased teen was identified as Wellington Williams.
According to initial reports, at around 6:45 p.m. on Saturday, April 1, Williams was riding his bicycle on Central American Boulevard towards the Port of Belize compound to deliver food for his aunt, who regularly sells meals to workers in the area, and when he passed in front of a home, he was ambushed by two male persons on bicycles who reportedly fired 8 shots in his direction. The two gunmen would later flee from the scene in the direction of Helen Middleton Street.
Williams had attempted to escape and yelled for his aunt’s help after he was wounded in his chest and abdomen area. He was rushed to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, where attempts were made to perform surgery to save his life, but he passed away before 8:00 p.m.
Florence Williams, sister of the deceased, told reporters that her family was completely devastated by the news of the shooting, since her brother, a third former who was reportedly looking forward to graduating next year, was not known to have any enemies.
“When I got the phone call I didn’t know how to react. My whole body just went into total shock because we never expect something like this to happen,” said Williams.
… I don’t know him as that type of person. No one ever came to my mother’s house or came to us to complain about him. He never mentioned anything to us; we just know that he has a lot of friends that love him,” said Williams.
“Honestly, we want justice like everyone else; but we are not the type of people to ask for revenge or try to do revenge. We’ll just leave it in God’s hand. God will take care of everything,” said Williams.
She said that the police have since been reviewing any camera footage that could have recorded the shooting, and the family is waiting to one day receive answers.
Wellington Williams reportedly aspired to run his own business in the future, and was confident he would be successful due to the friendly and outgoing characteristics his family described him as having.
Police have not yet determined the motive for the shooting, and so far, no arrests have been made.
Wellington is now the third SJC student killed by gun violence, following two other fatalities upon Duane Gabourel, 15, on New Road, and Kasmaan Gill, 15, on Magazine Road, both in September 2021, two weeks apart from each other.