Today, Belize City residents woke up shell-shocked after 7 hours of violence yesterday that left three dead, and five others with gunshot injuries. It all started at 2:00 pm with the murder of Cyril McFoy Robinson at the corner of Euphrates Avenue and Dean Street. The gunman was targeting his son, the George Street affiliated Brandon Tillett, and ended up killing the 56 year old Robinson and shooting another man - both of whom were playing dominoes under a house.
That police say that single event sparked a night of eruptive violence across the city, the kind that has not been seen for some time. And the crime spike didn't only scare residents, it did the same for politicians. This afternoon, Prime Minister Dean Barrow scheduled an emergency meeting with Belize City police this afternoon at the Raccoon Street police station, first to find out if they responded adequately after the McFoy shooting, and second, to see if they are doing anything to make sure the spike doesn't continue.
After that 90 minutes briefing with all city commanders and precinct heads, the Prime Minister and police held an hour long press conference. First, they gave an overview of what happened and what's being done to respond:
ACP - Desiree Phillips - OCED
"We were in the period 2 o' clock and 8 o' clock yesterday, we had a total of 4 separate shooting incidents that resulted in 8 person being shot, 3 of them has been confirm dead."
Allen Whylie - Commissioner of Police
"We want to of course express our condolences to the deceased family and we want to reassure the families as well as the public that the Belize Police Department is on top of this situation."
Prime Minister Dean Barrow
"Certain things have already happened that can offer us some small degree of comfort; that is a number of the major players that were being sought as part of the effort of containment immediately after the trigger incident because they are now in detention. That's certainly one step in the right direction."
ACP - Desiree Phillips - OCED
"There will definitely be an increase in our presence on the streets. We will be conducting sporadic roving vehicular check points across the city."
Allen Whylie - Commissioner of Police
"We will make all effort, not only to stem this situation, but to reverse the tide."
ACP - Desiree Phillips - OCED
"We will ensure the public that the Police Department will be out in full force for the upcoming events leading up to September 21st and that persons do not feel scared or in fear to come out and participate."
Prime Minister Dean Barrow
"Concrete measures are being put in place to try to get on top of the situation. Immediately going forward I feel that we can in good conscience say to people that this is going to the case that everything that can possibly be done will be done."
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