7 News Belize

City Man Killed In Ladyville
posted (May 8, 2014)
There was a murder yesterday evening in Ladyville. Police say it happened at around 6:30 where a Belize City resident was killed in a very deliberate act. Vince Martinez had gone to a funeral in the village, not knowing that by the end of the day, his family would be preparing for his own. Monica Bodden spoke to the family today:..

Monica Bodden reporting
27 year old Vince Martinez Jr took his last breath under this bus stop in Ladyville - after he was cold-bloodedly gunned down just before 7 last night.

The young man had attended a funeral for his grand uncle earlier that evening and was waiting on a bus to return to Belize City. But he never made it home.

Instead, his motionless body was picked up by police and put in the pan of a mobile - and taken to the City's morgue where his family was waiting.

ASP Chris Noble - Rural Executive Officer
"What we know is that the police did get information of a shooting and we came out here. We met one male person with an apparent injury to the head. The person succumb on the scene and we have persons or a person that we may be looking for not from this area. We've establish that the gentleman does not reside in the Ladyville area, buy may have been coming from an event in the Ladyville area."

According to some family members, a surveillance camera in the area captured what happened.

Police reported in a press release that Martinez was sitting under the bus stop when a man dressed in black and white ran towards him from the direction of Mirage Road.

That is right across the street from where the murder happened.

The man fired the single shot which caught Martinez in the right side of his head -and then ran back towards the same direction where a parked car was awaiting him to escape.

Tiffarah Bowen - Sister of Deceased
"To be honest I don't recall majority of it. I just recall my mom getting the call, start crying and then she gave me the phone and when I got the phone I myself couldn't hold up, so I just heard the person on the other line telling me that my brother just got shot and the phone fell out of my hand."

Bowen was one of the first to hear about the shooting of her brother - She had just seen him earlier that day at the funeral and is still left in shock by the news.

Tiffarah Bowen - Sister of Deceased
"We just buried our grand uncle, my mom's uncle that evening."

Monica Bodden
"So he was waiting for a bus to come back down to Belize City?"

Tiffarah Bowen - Sister of Deceased
"Well, honestly we put him in one of our cousin's car, he came out. We put him in another cousin's pick up, he came out of the pick-up. We put him in the bus that I was on and he came off the bus. He was under the influence of alcohol at the time, so I guess he felt it coming because he didn't want to go back home."

Adriane Garnet - Cousin of Deceased
"The last time I saw Vince was at the burying ground."

Monica Bodden
"Did he mentioned anything to you?"

Adriane Garnet - Cousin of Deceased
"No ma'am."

Monica Bodden
"So when you got the news last night it came as a shock because you just saw him just hours ago right?"

Adriane Garnet - Cousin of Deceased
"Yup, my cousin looked at me and said Adriane doesn't look my brother."

Tiffarah Bowen - Sister of Deceased
"I felt it. The moment I came from work because we were at the bus stop by Pallotti and I saw my brother and I told Adriane I had a bad feeling in my stomach - I told her that. I am going to miss him because he is here every single day, I came last night. This morning I woke up, I barely got any sleep. I got about half an hour sleep this morning and I went straight to his room to see if he was in there because I thought it was a dream. I honestly thought it was a dream and when I went in there my sister-in-law and my mom was in there crying."

Today the family of Martinez is left to wonder why someone wanted him dead.

Tiffarah Bowen - Sister of Deceased
"I am not saying that my brother was saint or was perfect. He is not around me 24/7, I am not sure if he was in any gang, but I guess he just got with the wrong crew. My brother grew up in church. My brother was Sunday school man. My granny has her Sunday school every Sunday and we all grew up in that Sunday school, so it's very surprising when we saw him start changing walking and talking the way he talks. But regardless, he loved his family, he has 2 beautiful daughters and he loved his family no matter what and he would have always have our backs in anything at all."

"I just pray to God that whoever did this, I am not going to ask for justice or anything because oh my gosh, no justice in our country right now, but I just pray to God that whoever did this I really hope that we get justice from God."

Monica Bodden
"If you could say one thing to that person who pulled that trigger on your brother, what would that be?"

Tiffarah Bowen - Sister of Deceased
"What goes around, comes around. That's all I have to say."

Adriane Garnet - Cousin of Deceased
"Everubody has their turn."

Tiffarah Bowen - Sister of Deceased
"It might not be today, it might not be tomorrow. It's not going to be me because I am not that kind of person. My brother is way better off than me right now because he is resting, but your time is coming soon, I am telling you. It's going to be in a few years, or maybe now or tomorrow, I don't know, but your turn is coming. The world is round and God doesn't sleep at all."

The girls spoke about memories of Martinez that brought smiles to their faces.

Adriane Garnet - Cousin of Deceased
"He was provoking. Sometimes when he was drinking he would dance for us in the yard."

Monica Bodden
"It was fun?"

Adriane Garnet - Cousin of Deceased
"Vince was also in the carnival."

Tiffarah Bowen - Sister of Deceased
"When he was younger he was in the carnival and like I said he was a Sunday school person. My brother, oh my gosh, I will miss him dearly. The last good memory I had with my brother was the morning I was going to work and I needed to leave money for my mom to cook and when he went to the store with me to change the money because I needed to bring back the money - he laughed and he told me sis I love you, but leave me alone."

Monica Bodden
"You have any memory of your cousin?"

Adriane Garnet - Cousin of Deceased
"Well every time I would come over, he......"[crying]

Those smiles soon turned into tears when the grim reality set in - that he is no longer with them - and his life was taken away senselessly - just like the many black youths who died by the gun.

Martinez is the father of two children ages 4 and 5. So far police are looking for a male suspect.

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