BELIZE CITY, Wed. Nov. 25, 2020– Two men were murdered yesterday evening, Tuesday, on the southside of Belize City.
Floyd Carter, 45, of a Signa Yorke Street, Belama Phase One address, was killed yesterday evening just before 6:00 p.m. on East Canal Street.
Investigators have determined that Carter and a group of men were socializing near the canal when a dark-complexioned man dressed in full black approached the group, took aim at Carter and shot him multiple times in the body.
Carter was rushed to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital for treatment, but was pronounced dead at 5:55 p.m.
Scenes of Crime personnel recovered seven expended 9-millimetre Aguila shells from the scene. Police detained one person for questioning in connection with the crime, and according to Commissioner of Police Chester Williams, Carter was targeted when the shooter could not locate his (Carter’s) son — a case of “can’t catch Harry, catch his shirt”.
Commissioner Williams explained, “From our investigation, Mr. Carter was not the intended target; it was his son, but they couldn’t find the son, so they took out the father, which, again, is very stupid, and it goes to show the extent to which these gang members are going; when they can’t find who they want, they just take out anybody else; that cannot be countenanced … We believe that [the murder of] Mr. Carter is a retaliation for a murder that took place in Hattieville some while back; we have the suspect for that murder in custody and we’re hoping that we’ll be able to gather evidence against that person so that he can be charged.”
Carter’s mother, Claudette Dominguez, said that her son was not involved in any kind of “gang life,” and denied any such assertions:
“They chanced my son out of his life; they took his life, but my son was this hard-working, caring, dedicated, loving person to his children’s mother and his family. He was a fun person, loved to run jokes; he never once, he wasn’t a gambler, he didn’t smoke weed, he didn’t smoke drugs. He liked to go hunting and he was an adventurous person.
“That’s how I know my son, but whosoever did this to my son, I want them to know, please, you don’t know what you’ve taken away from us; we are mourning right now,” Dominguez lamented.
Some hours later, on the other side of southside Belize City at 8:10 p.m., there were reports of gunshots in the Holy Emmanuel Street area. Police visited #9135 M&Y Street, where they found the body of Dwayne Cherrington, 32, lying on the ground with multiple gunshot injuries.
“Dudu,” as Cherrington was known, had only just arrived at his common-law wife’s house when he was attacked by three dark-complexioned men, one of whom shot him several times in the body.
Police are seeking two suspects in relation to this murder.
While Cherrington was killed in gang territory, his family asserts that he was never involved in gang activities. His sister, Indira Cayetano, said that when she heard the gunshots, she had an eerie feeling that the victim could be someone close to her: “Dah something weh we mih neva expect right away, because we talk to my bredda, we tell ah noh go back deh, we know you nuh gang affiliated, even the police officers, when I talk to them last night bout my bredda, they say they they have no file ah my bredda. My bredda dah wah family person – yes, everybody have their flaws, but my bredda noh know how fi shoot a gun — I could put my head on the block fi that part deh,” she said.
Cherrington leaves behind two daughters, ages nine and seven.
Following Cherrington’s murder, Commissioner of Police Chester Williams, citing a resurgence of gun violence, ordered “flash operations” to be conducted to address the spate of violence.
“From a law enforcement standpoint, there’s a lot that we need to do, and I want to assure the public that we will do what needs to be done; I’m not going to go to full specifics in terms of what our plan of action will be to address the issue, but those persons who are involved in the recent gang warfare need to understand and need to get the message that they are not going to able to hold the masses of the country or the masses of the people of St. Martin hostage,” the Commissioner said.
Twenty persons were detained for questioning as a result of the operations, and according to Williams, subsequent operations will continue until the situation is brought under control.