And if Penner-Gate wasn't still such hot news, the headline tonight would be another Belize City murder. We say another because after a three month break from killing, October has reported two murders in two weeks.
The most recent happened on Friday night, just before midnight at the corner of Hyde's Lane and New Road, a stone's throw away from the Queen Street Police Precinct, where a gunman rode up and shot 28 year old Deon Yorke twice.
He was immediately rushed to the KHMH where 45 minutes later, he succumbed to his injuries.
This weekend, the media spoke with his family, and they opened up to us about how devastating his loss has been for them. Here's how that conversation went:
Lafaye Lewis, Girlfriend of Deceased
"There were two gunshots but my mind wasn't on him because I don't know him as somebody that goes over that side of town. I was sitting down with my friends and I ask them if they heard the gunshots and told me yes. A young lady ran and yelled Lafaye, its "Didi" and by the time I ran to see who it was the police was already taking him to the hospital."
Dorla, aunt of deceased
"My daughter got a call from my other daughter after 12 in the night, saying that they shot "Didi," but she says that she doesn't know who it is. They say that he was coming home from "Bucket." I said what is he doing there because he doesn't usually goes at "Bucket.""
"She (my daughter) says that he went there with a friend at "Bucket." I don't really know what happened. What I will say is that they took my nephew life innocently. I have a feeling that I can't explain - you don't know how it feels to have your love one taken from you in just split of a moment."
Lafaye Lewis, Girlfriend of Deceased
"It is not a pretty feeling because in 2010 I lose my daughter's father by gun violence too and now in 2013 again. My son is going to be 4 years old and my other child is only 10 months old. It is not a nice feeling because my children love their father and he loved him kids. He didn't do anyone anything because he was not a killer. They cut his life short. He use to always say that he wanted
to live to see him children grow up and that whatever happens to him after that just happen. I don't know what they killed him for. They dodge and kill him as he was coming home last night. He was not far from his house when he was shot."
Dorla, aunt of deceased
"He is friends with everybody from north, south, east and west. Some days we would tell him that he has a lot of people come from all corners through here and that one of these days something will happen through here. He wasn't afraid because he considers himself not to have any enemies. He was not a problem boy."
Alicia Yorke. Sister of deceased
"This is first in our family on my mothers' side that they took away from us. We are hoping and praying for it to go just like this; we don't want any retaliation from any of his friends. We want everything to go smooth."
Yorke was the father of 4 children with ages ranging from 10 months to 9 years old. Police say that they have 2 men detained, and they are seeking another. We've been informed that investigators have been speaking to the business owners in the near vicinity to see if any of the surveillance cameras in the area caught the attack on tape.
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