Email

Print

But now, it has gone too far: a 2 year-old boy was killed by gunshots in the San Pedrito Area this morning - he died in the embrace of his mother: An innocent life taken by bullets meant for adults. The background to the story reveals an even greater pattern of violence - Daniel Ortiz found out more on san Pedro today:

Daniel Ortiz reporting
Bullets penetrated the Espat's family home early this morning, just before 2 a.m. Rolando Espat Sr., his wife, Aleyda Sandoval, and their 2 year-old baby, Daniel Espat, were all sleeping in their bed when an assailant, or assailants opened fire on their front door.

Bullet marks all around the room told exactly how it happened. One of those gunshots injured baby Daniel while he was snuggled next to his parents, normally believed to be the safest place for children.

His grief-striken dad, Rolando Espat Sr., is still shocked at the suddenness of the attack which took away another of his loved one, and the sense of security he had in his home.

Voice of: Rolando Espat Sr. - Father of Deceased
"It happened at maybe between 1:30 - 2:00. I was asleep with my wife and my kid and I heard some gunshots. I heard some gunshots and I jump. My first reaction was try to cove my kid. But when I heard bam, bam, bam - it happened so fast. I heard maybe 8-10 shots. I told my wife to cover the baby. I jump over my baby and my wife to try to shield them, but I think the first bullet hit my kid, because he was no longer moving. I asked my wife if everything was okay when I heard the shots stop and he she told me that she thinks the baby got hit because he is not moving."

Supt. Luis Castellanos - OC, San Pedro Police
"We made our way to the polyclinic, where on arrival at the clinic, we saw the doctor attending to a minor, a baby toddler, whom we later learn to be Daniel Espat. What we observed is that this toddler was suffering from what appeared to be gunshot injuries to the head. Shortly afterwards the doctor pronounced the baby dead."

Espats' wife was so worried about her injured baby, that she didn't even know that she was hit herself.

Supt. Luis Castellanos - OC, San Pedro Police
"Ms. Aleyda Sandoval, 33 years old, Belizean housewife of San Pedrito area, San Pedro Town, she was observed suffering from what appeared to be gunshot injuries to the left part of her hand, by the elbow area and it is understood that the bullet is lodge in her back."

Voice of: Rolando Espat Sr. - Father of Deceased
"I didn't even noticed that my wife was shot, she didn't notice until we reached the hospital. The doctor told me that it looks like your wife was also shot."

Rolando Espat Sr., still cannot understand how he escaped unscathed, given that he was lying inches away from his baby and his wife.

Voice of: Rolando Espat Sr. - Father of Deceased
"I still cannot explain how I manage to not get hit by a bullet, because there were so many bullets. As you can see in my room, holes all over the walls and I was sleeping in front of my kid. I was in front of the bed, my kid in the middle and my wife was in the corner of the bed. So, I still cannot explain how I didn't get shot. I would prefer me to get shot and not my kid, because I already live my life."

Supt. Luis Castellanos - OC, San Pedro Police
"Initial investigations reveal that Mr. Rolando Espat, his wife and the baby were sleeping when somebody or some persons went to the residence and fired several shots. As a result, resulting in what we have now in the investigation. At the scene we observed that the door to the apartment had several bullets, about 8-9 bullet holes and at the crime scene, we found 5 slugs and 1 expended shell."

Espat must now burry his 4th son. He's now lost 6 relatives, which suggest clearly that the great misfortune that his family has experienced is by design. The Espat men appears to have a target on their backs.

Voice of: Rolando Espat Sr. - Father of Deceased
"It is my 4th kid. 6 months ago I buried my oldest son, 22 years old Rolando Junior and today my two and a half years old son got killed. It very hard to deal with that. I don't wish that to anybody. I don't know how I am coping with that right now. I know that this was targeting me. This was not targeting my son or my wife. They were targeting me, because they knew where I was staying, they knew where my room was and those bullets that hit my son, they are supposed to hit me, but the Lord is the one who decides. He took away my son's life and I don't know what's going to happen to my wife, but he speared me for some reason."

Daniel Ortiz "Are you worried that person will try to come back and finish what they did?"

Voice of: Rolando Espat Sr. - Father of Deceased
"Oh sure. I am worried. My wife is worried, my family, my mom, and my brothers - everybody is worried. They told me to go away from the island, sell your house, and sell your properties and go. I am thinking about it and only God will decide."

But, for a more immediate response, San Pedro Police are focused on the San Pedrito Area which has seen a spike in violent crime. The Commanding Officer is determined to get the area under control, but it is a tough neighborhood to police.

Supt. Luis Castellanos - OC, San Pedro Police
"We have been investigating. If you can recall we had previously the shooting where a gentleman by the name of Kareem Eaghan was involved and so we thought that it was retaliation from that. So far the motive is not clear, so we are investigating as to what is the motive and as a result of that what we did, we stepped up our law enforcement response by putting more patrols in the area. We do more stop and search in the area and in fact last night, we had a political meeting or what we called a mayoral debate and as soon as that meeting was over, I personally went into the area to patrol along with another constable and unfortunately this was between 10:30 - 11:00, so we have stepped up our law enforcement response and we are asking the community or the residents of the area that if they have any information, for them to feel free to call me or to come and talk to the detectives and whatever information they have, to give us the information."

As noted in the story, Rolando Espat Sr. has now lost 6 relatives; four of them, his sons. Espat's brother-in-law, Edwardo "Bro Lee" Guitierrez was found along with James Swan buried in shallow graves on the island on February 2009. Then Rolando's 17 year-old nephew, Daniel Alamilla, and and his 18 year-old son, Charlie Espat, were found buried in shallow graves in Orange Walk in June 2012. Then, his other son, Byron Estrada Espat, was killed in the Daddy Rock Night Club in January 2013. Most recently, Rolando Senior's eldest son, 22 year-old Rolando "Rolito" Espat Jr. was killed by a gunman in September 2014. He was only a short distance away from his house when he was gunned down. And, now, Baby Daniel Espat is his 4th son to be killed by violence.