There was a murder in Corozal last night - the fifth murder in that town in a month - and this one, just like the last two was a public execution.
The last two we refer to are Robert Hernandez and Kenrick Vaccaro - who were gunned down on sixth Avenue.
Last night, a pair of gunmen waylaid James Swan Jr. on Seventh Avenue - which is the main street in Corozal.
To understand how serious that are, you'd have to know that - unlike Belize City - at night, downtown Corozal is bustling with shoppers - and most stores are open.
That was the setting at 7:20 last night when a spray of bullets from a nine millimeter pistol was released at the height of the evening rush.
We found out why police think James Swan Jr. was targeted:....
Jules Vasquez reporting
Deng's Supermarket is on the main street in Corozal Town. It's always bustling with activity - as it was last night at 7:20 when Belize City resident James Swan Jr was execute din front of Deng's Store.
He was standing here at the side of the entrance to Deng's when a gunman sprang out from beside this fence and shot him at close range.
Footage from a security camera shows customers at the store looking over at the shooting as the shutters came down.
Supt. Gualberto Garcia, O/C Corozal
"From all indication Jules we do believe that Mr. Swan was lured to that location. We have information that 2 persons were lay waiting for him and a few minutes after his arrival the shooter emerged from the dark, from the rear of the yard and open fire at him fatally injuring him and injuring the other gentleman Mr. Ajay Bajay whom he was having some kind of conversation with."
Bajay was not seriously injured, but Swan was executed with resolute precision:
Supt. Gualberto Garcia, O/C Corozal
"From the scene police retrieve 10 extended 9mm shells and Mr. Swan from preliminary observations has 5 apparent gunshot wounds - two in his head and 3 in his chest."
Police believe his execution was a continuation of ongoing drug related murders in the town.
Supt. Gualberto Garcia, O/C Corozal
"From the last double murder we had with Mr. Hernandez, we have had a increase in shooting activities here in Corozal with the most recent one before last night - the shooting of Mr. Masam that happen at the seaside and information reaching us is that all of these are as a direct result of the double murder that happen where Mr. Hernandez and Mr. Vaccaro lost their lives."
And, Garcia fears this may not be the end of it:
Jules Vasquez
"Are you concern that there will be more retaliation?"
Supt. Gualberto Garcia, O/C Corozal
"At this moment after what we have seen I do believe that there may be or will be some retaliation knowing who Mr. James Swan is or what he has been allege to have been involved in. We do expect some type of retaliation. We are working as hard as we can with gathering intelligence - we are trying to prevent another reoccurrence but as I mention earlier there is only so much that we can do - we cannot prevent all crimes."
But they did try to prevent this one. The Anti-Drug Unit was in town on Saturday, following up on information that there would be a hit but without success:
Supt. Gualberto Garcia, O/C Corozal
"I believe as we know is the most northern most districts - it is the gateway out of Belize into Mexico and with the current drug situation everything coming from South America wanting to end up in North America has to pass somewhere through Belize either via road, air or the seas and the free zone - free for all. Many things happen there and I believe that is one of the reasons that has increase the activity because with the limited resources that we have there is not much that we can do in monitoring all of these people who enter and exit the free zone because we have businessmen all the way from Guatemala, Panama and Mexico who come to this free zone and they have all kinds of meetings there and so it is an exit point for Belize both for industry as well as for the underworld. So it is a point of interest and we have to deal with it as effective as possible."
James Swan Sr. - known as Raindrops - and his family declined comment.
Three persons were detained - and police intent to question a few more.
Ajay Bajay -who was reportedly talking to Swan when he got shot - has been treated for his injuries and released. Police say he is a person of interest.
As we noted, there have been five murders since July fifth - and no arrest has been made in any of the cases.
Police are calling on the community to please come forward with any information they may have.
Email
Print