Marlon Castillo is known as one of Belize's most dominant cyclists - but he's been going through a very rough spell for the past four months: Marlon was driving when his friend, Ariel Rosado, was killed in a freak traffic accident in May.
And Last night, he got the worst news any son can get: his father was killed as gunmen ambushed him in his driveway.
It happened last night in the quiet residential area of Belama Phase 3 - where ambush executions just don't happen.
Monica Bodden has the story on this very anomalous, very disturbing crime...
Monica Bodden Reporting
It was inside this Ford pickup truck that 48 year old Miguel Castillo was shot - execution style- as he pulled up in his driveway of his home last night.
The shattered glass, scattered on the ground in the front of his yard - is from the front passenger side window of the vehicle -It was through that window the shots were fired -
Castillo who was behind the driver's seat was shot 3 times to the right upper shoulder.
According to police 3 men were waylaying Castillo in the bushes in front of his home.
Neighbors say they heard one shot and shortly after they saw when a man - who they described was wearing a black jacket, long pants and slippers with a handkerchief tied around his mouth - ran down the street and then made a right into Superintendent George Arthur Street - through this puddle of water.
Castillo was rushed to the hospital by his young son - and about 30 minutes later he was pronounced dead.
Sgt. Fitzroy Yearwood - Police Press Officer
"Investigator's visited the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, where they saw Miguel Castillo, a businessman, suffering from 3 apparent gunshot wounds to upper shoulder - well two in the upper shoulder, and to the right side of the neck. Mr. Castillo succumbed to those injuries; he was transported there as a result of a shooting incident that took place at his house at Albert Hoy Street in Belama Phase 3. Mr. Castillo arrived home sometime around 8 o'clock, and he was immediately ambushed by 3 males persons who immediately opened fire on him causing his injuries."
Miguel Castillo was the owner of Castillo's Meat Shop which is located in the Michael Finnegan's marketplace. Today his vendor colleagues described him to us as a funny, humble man.
This black bow that hangs on the door of his business only reminds them about their sudden lost. But who would want to kill Castillo and why, are questions plaguing everyone's minds.
Was it an act of attempted robbery gone bad?
Sgt. Fitzroy Yearwood - Police Press Officer
"Monica, we know that Mr. Castillo was shot in his vehicle; he didn't have a chance to exit the vehicle. So we cannot say that robbery was a motive. It's early, Monica, and we would really have to examine a whole lot of different angles. First of all, it appears that these men knew more or less what time he would have been arriving home, so it's probably people who have studied his movements."
No one has been arrested...
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