BELIZE CITY, Thurs. May 2, 2019– Hamed Guzman, 23, a volunteer soldier of the Belize Defence Force, Belize City branch, was walking on Lopez Street in Lake Independence in Belize City with a friend at about 8:30 last night, when he was shot several times by an unknown person. Guzman was struck in his head and body and he died almost immediately in a nearby drain. He was taken to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival.

ACP Joseph Myvett told us that Guzman had just left home with his friend and was going to borrow a bicycle when the unknown person approached and fired. He is not sure if Guzman was the intended target of the gunman because he was not alone and he was not known to police.

Guzman’s mother, Ruth Castillo, told us this afternoon that he lived on Police Street and he was heading to her house to borrow a bicycle from his sister when he was shot and killed. She said that Guzman had told her on many occasions that he had no enemies, and he was not afraid to go anywhere. She said it was a terrible shock to get the devastating news that he had been killed.

Castillo said that in 2017 her first son, Everal Augustine, Jr., was shot and killed on Tubruce Street behind Tow Tow Super Store. She said she has nothing to tell the killer, that she will leave everything in the hands of her God.

Private Hamed Guzman, Jr., is survived by his mother, three brothers, three sisters, and the B Company of the Belize Defence Force.