In the past month, we've only reported on one murder –, but tonight there are three to report. Now, before you get alarmed, we stress that only one of those murders happened today; one results from injuries obtained in June, the other in August.
We begin with today's shooting murder in Roaring Creek – where a man was gunned down in front of his yard – the kind of killing we haven't reported on since July 9th. Bit it happened this morning in Roaring Creek. Daniel Ortiz has the story:..
34 year-old Nigel Neal was killed early this morning, gunned down in front of his mother's house in Roaring creek:
Voice of: Eyewitness
"I heard about 5 or 6 gunshots, when I ran out my little brother told me it was 'Blue' - I told him it couldn't be because Blue was in Belmopan. When I peeped through, I saw two Spanish decent guys running - one was tall and one was short but they ran across the road towards the Roaring Creek ball field."
ASP Sinquest Martinez - OC, Belmopan Police
"Mr. Neal was here earlier in the morning (prior to his death) about 25 minutes came in and signed due to court order - every Friday he comes in to sign in here and within half and hour time we received information that he was being gunned down in front of his mother's house in Roaring Creek Village."
Voice of: Eyewitness
"They tracked him down from Belmopan, according to the information, infront of his house and they killed him."
He went early to the Belmopan Police Station to sign in as required by a court order for a robbery charge he was facing.
He was but a few steps away from safety, but the assailants made sure to capitalize on the opportunity, and they executed him.
The blood in the mud tells exactly where he met his end after the 2 assailants attacked:
Alice Burgess - Mother of Deceased
"My son came towards me crying, my oldest son, so I asked him what happened and he told me they killed Nigel. I couldn't take it and started crying."
All indications are that he was receiving death threats:
Voice of: Eyewitness
"Shortly this morning around 5;45, I met the same guy Nigel at the junction and he asked me if I could have given he a drop to Belmopan to go and sign in because he didn't want to walk or get another ride because he said that he heard that they had a hit on him; he said it was because of some murder that happened the other day in Roaring Creek."
Alice Burgess
"He always said 'mammy they don't like me and I'm not doing anybody anything'. He told me he would have liked to leave the village, he said he used to be in PG to be a mechanic down there and make my money but here he wasn't doing anything - he wanted to go. He doesn't go out at night because they send threats to him and tell him that he's going to die soon and that they will kill him."
And while he avoided the streets and their problems, he also had a reputation which kept following him.
Voice of: Eyewitness
"I know that the man wasn't anybody good but still they shouldn't just kill him like that like an animal - I know he wasn't anybody good and most people know that. Each family has somebody in their family that is bad so nobody can say their family is perfect."
ASP Sinquest Martinez
"I will not say he is known to us as a trouble maker but he has been and out of the Belmopan Police station and he has run ins with the law so he is well known to us."
Alice Burgess
"He has enemies but he wasn't giving any trouble for the past couple years now."
Despite his notoriety, his mother will remember him for their fond memories together
Alice Burgess
"He's the one that cooks for me when I'm not feeling good, he would tell me to go and sit down because he would cook and he always cooked for me, yesterday he did so I will miss him a lot."
Meanwhile, Belmopan police are working rapidly; they already have persons of interest, who they detained before midday.
ASP Sinquest Martinez
"Two persons were detained in the Guanacaste area based on the descriptions given to us - they are persons of interest."
Neal would have been 35 years-old next month. He was the youngest son of Alice Burgess.
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