7 News Belize

Roaring Creek Senior Citizen Shot In Head
posted (February 10, 2015)
When we left you last night, it was with the news that a Roaring Creek resident had been killed.

Well, it turns out that the victim John Alexander Smith was 61 years old. At around 6:55, he was heading home when he was fatally shot to the left side of his face. His murder has shocked his family and members of the village because he was a well-known handy man - and no considered a threat or a trouble to anyone. So why was he killed? Our news team traveled to Belmopan today for answers.

Courtney Weatherburne reporting
This is where John Smith slept every night. Right beside his favorite bottle of cologne and colonial cigarettes. But he never got to take his midnight smoke on his mattress last night. Because he was shot and killed about 50 yards away from his green wooden house. His family members were at the house waiting for his return.

Arlet "Paulet" Pattnet, Niece
"I was right here in the kitchen when my neighbor yelled and I peeped through the window and he said that my uncle had fainted or something like that, so I rushed out with my phone and the my other neighbor said no, that he was shot. I ran back and I call the police while running and then when I went to identify him, I called out for my mom and told her to come because they killed uncle "Jatta" and then she ran out. He was already dead. We already knew that he wasn't going to make it and then I see blood coming through his ears and his through his mouth and his head was facing the other side of the road and his foot was flap underneath - the way he dropped with two bags on the side of him. My mom came and she straightened his head and his feet and she told him to close his eyes. He closed his eyes and we waited for the police to come afterwards."

"They had followed him, because people saw. The person didn't put on his mask until he reached here. It's a stocking that he had on and he didn't put in on until he reached close to here. We wouldn't believe that something like this would have happen, because if you had come last night, you would have seen the amount of light out there."

And that light allowed some of the neighbors to see the masked murderer walk off.

Arlet "Paulet" Pattnet, Niece
"Other people say that they saw, but they couldn't say who did it, because when my neighbor rushed out, she was frightened because the person was still at the back of her vehicle checking to see if he was dead. So they want him dead. When they (neighbors) saw that, then the person took his slow time and walk. He must have said to follow him because I have my gun, but nobody had followed him. When he reaches at the end of the road, then he ran into the bushes."

"He (John Smith) is a handy man here in Roaring Creek. You could ask him to bath the dog, clean the vehicle, chop the yard - he does that. All he always have is his flask of strong rum mixed with water - that is what he did."

He was more than just a handy man to the owner of "Cool Spot".

Courtney Weatherburne
"He was a very close friend to you right?"

Bernette Smith, Cool Spot, Owner
"Yes. He comes in the morning time and he cleans-up for me and I feed him. In the night time he would go home like after 7pm to sleep. Last night he went and he brought some purge. He told me and my mom that he was going home to make the purge and he would return with a bottle for me and my mom. So, he went with the bag and the purge in his hand. I had just give him food and then he told me that he was going home. He told me that he will not come soon in the morning because of the purge. I told him alright and after that, like 10 minutes, a friend call me and said to me if I had heard that "Jatta" was shot and died. I said that was a lie, because "Jatta" had just left from me."

And sometime after that, he was murdered. Now, only questions and blank spaces linger.

Maria Samuels, Sister
"I don't know why they killed my brother, because he doesn't troubles anyone. He felt like something would have happen to him, because Sunday night, he call me and he said come my sister, open the door for me and I get up and went to the bathroom and I opened the door for him, he came in and he lie down right here and he puts his head here and he went to sleep. He got up early in the morning and he had some hot tea and he went and that was it, until I saw him down there on the road."

Verna Staine, Niece
"I couldn't believe it. I had to reach the morgue and see him and hold him for me to know that that was my uncle they really killed, because why is the big question now in all of our minds. The whole village is asking why. He was born here and he grew up here. Everybody knows him and everybody knows that he cool off and he relax. So why now? This is my uncle and this hurt me, that I can't even cry. I just pray that justice be served, because I am mad about the whole situation."

At this time, no one has been detained.

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