7 News Belize

City’s First Murder in 7 Weeks
posted (December 30, 2013)
There is a Belize City murder to report tonight. We hadn't had one of those since the first week in November, but recently there's been a spike in violence in the PIV/Ghost Town areas of Lake Independence and Pickstock Divisions. And on Sunday night, a 28 year old working man got killed, while a school warden was grazed. But, while it is in a gang area, the family of the victim, Leon Giovanni Smith says police can't just chalk this one up as another gang related statistic. Daniel Ortiz found out why:..

Daniel Ortiz reporting
28 year-old Leon Geovanni Smith met his end at the corner of Sittee and Ebony Streets last night at around 7:30. Smith, who was running an errand, was ambushed by an assailant who gunned him down.

Patricia Petillo - Mother of Deceased
"He left my house to take food for my son because I have a son who live in that area and he was there waiting for his bicycle because he had loan it to one of the family member in the yard. I understand that was the time the young man brought back the bicycle and he (Leon) was leaving the yard when he got shot."

Voice of: Aunt - Shooting Victim
"I was sitting in my house and dynamite was bursting before. You don't know the difference between the dynamite and the gunshot. I sat there and I heard the person hollering for me, calling me by my name. I got up to see what was happening, but I didn't even reached the door when a shot came in."

Daniel Ortiz
"One of the shots came through your door which is locked?"

Voice of: Aunt - Shooting Victim
"Yes, through my door which was locked."

Smith's aunt got grazed in the stomach, for which she had to get several stitches, Leon Smith, however, wasn't spared. The gunman made sure to shoot Smith multiple times, injuries which ended up claiming his life.

Voice of: Aunt - Shooting Victim
"Right now I can't even explained, I was so frightened because I felt was a burn and when I lift up my blouse I saw blood. After that I came out and I saw the young man in the drain. I hollered for him to see if he will answer me, but he didn't. Then the crowd started to come."

"He was going home. He had just left going home doubling the lane."

The characteristics of the attack suggest a gang-style slaying, which Smith family says does not fit his personality or his character at all.

Patricia Petillo - Mother of Deceased
"He is a very hard working person and what I can say about him he was very quiet. He is not a person that likes to speak. If you didn't say anything to him he wouldn't say anything to you."

"When he was younger I use to live on Mopan Street with my kids dad and that's where they got to know him from. Even though we moved away from that area, he was always in the area visiting because they took him like his family and he took them like his. That's the reason he was always there hanging out with the family members in that area."

So why then would anyone remotely try to link him with gang affiliations?

Patricia Petillo - Mother of Deceased
"I wouldn't say that he is a gang affiliated person. What I would say is, I use to live on Flamboyant Street and that's where he hang out every day because I don't have any girls in my house, so he goes around there and hang out with the guys that lives around that area."

"I am just trying my best at this time to keep the faith and I ask God to give me the strength to deal with it."

Smith was one of the very active employees of Cisco Construction project where City residents get paid by the loads of sand they spread on Lake I Boulevard. He is the second worker from this programme to have died in just a few days. The other Stephan Ovado died suddenly of natural causes. We'll tell you about his post mortem results later on.

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