7 News Belize

Mark Medina’s Murder, A Mexican Hit Or George Street Setup?
posted (April 27, 2015)
Over the past four weeks we've reported on the murders of Jamie Chavarria and Mark Ramdas - both of them killed in and around Berkley Street and Wagner's Lane. That's a very tight geographic area - with rival gang-affiliated persons living a stone's throw from each other. Mark Medina lived right there too on Berkeley street - and he was a part of the feuding - which is why police locked down that area one week ago when Jamie Chavarria's funeral was being held. But on Sunday, Medina took a taxi to another area - Iguana Street, the block known as "Crenshaw".

And that's where a masked gunman was laying in wait for him - and let loose with a barrage of gunfire. Daniel Ortiz was on the scene shortly after and has this report:...

Daniel Ortiz reporting
At around 10 a.m. yesterday, 31 year-old Mark Medina lay lifeless on the pavement in front of #19 Iguana Street. He had been shot and killed execution style by a gunman who apparently knew exactly when and where to find him.

While police processed the scene, his family happened on the scene and watching seeing him so broken, his human dignity stripped from him in that fashion, it was too much for this female relative. Her wails of grief were clearly audible about 300 yards away.

Everyone could only look on in stunned that man was killed so brazenly in broad daylight. But, that's what happened, according to eyewitnesses. They described to us that they saw when Medina in front of the house in a taxi. That's when a gunman, who was wearing a white and black handkerchief over his face, ran out from under a nearby mango tree in a nearby yard.

He then pulled out a chrome and black 9mm handgun and fired several shots at Medina and the taxi driver, 55-year-old Egbert Hemmans, hitting them both with gunshots. Our information say that Medina briefly struggled with his assailant, who managed to overpower him while he was injured, but he fell to the pavement. That's when the gunman allegedly stood over him and shot him several more times in the head for good measure. He then turned left unto Seagull, and that's when a black cap he was wearing fell off his head. He reportedly discarded the cloth he had over his face, and he jumped onto a motorcycle and drove off.

The taxi driver tried to speed his way to the hospital, but he arrived in a critical condition. Medina died on the spot:

Supt. Hiberto Romero - OC, CIB Eastern Division
"On Sunday 26th April, 2015 around 10am, police visited Iguana Street where they found the lifeless body of Mark Medina, 31 years old. He had multiple gunshot injuries to the face and to the neck. He was transported thereafter to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival."

Reporter
"We understand that a second person was also injured."

Supt. Hiberto Romero - OC, CIB Eastern Division
"A second person was also shot to the abdomen. Egbert Hemmans received a gunshot injury. He is admitted at the KHMH in a stable condition."

Reporter
"He was the one that took Mr. Medina to the location?"

Supt. Hiberto Romero - OC, CIB Eastern Division
"He was the taxi driver that took Medina to that area."

Daniel Ortiz
"Do police know at this time what he was doing in that area?"

Supt. Hiberto Romero - OC, CIB Eastern Division
"We do not know what he was doing in that area. The taxi took him there and at some point a lone gunman came out of a yard and fired several shots at him."

Reporter
"Has a motive been established?"

Supt. Hiberto Romero - OC, CIB Eastern Division
"No motive has been established for this murder."

This morning, when we went to speak with them, Medina's family was still unable to open up to us on camera about his gang-style slaying, but they provide details. According to them, Medina was a well-educated graduate and Saint John's College, and Junior College. His mother, Pamela, provided him with all the tools for a successful life, but he chose to seek out gang life. At one point in his past, he was one of most the feared members of the George Street Gang, but according to his mother, all that changed when he was released from prison last year. He was trying change his life, but that criminal past would not release him no matter what attempts he made.

Supt. Hiberto Romero - OC, CIB Eastern Division
"I know he has been charged before for murder, possession of unlicensed firearm, displaying gang membership and several other crimes and offences."

Medina was known to roll around with very expensive jewelry and possessions, some which he was wearing yesterday when he was murdered. His family wants them returned as soon as possible from police

Reporter
"His personal belongings: numerous amount of jewelry, as well as his wallet, have it been confiscated by the police? The family is wondering what happening there?"

Supt. Hiberto Romero - OC, CIB Eastern Division
"His personal properties are with the police. The post mortem will be done today and thereafter those properties will be handed over to the family."

Daniel Ortiz
"Do police have a catalogue of all of that, because the family....?"

Supt. Hiberto Romero - OC, CIB Eastern Division
"Yes. Items are documented. We don't allow personal properties to be taken to the morgue, for the same reason - so that no allegations can be made. The police documents those items and then they are handed back to the family, which also include his cellular phone."

At this time, police no clear motive, or leads to follow.

Supt. Hiberto Romero - OC, CIB Eastern Division
"At this time we have several persons in custody. We are conducting interviews. We are recording statements. This is an ongoing investigation at this time and no one has been charged so far."

7News has received credible reports from highly placed sources in the security apparatus that Interpol in Mexico had sent an advisory to Belize saying that Mark "Tolo" Medina had been marked for death by a Mexican cartel due to a drug deal gone wrong where Medina had reportedly come up on a significant quantity of drugs. Now, it may sound stranger than fiction, but like we said, this is information from top-level security personnel. As a result of this external threat and local neighborhood feuding, police kept a very high presence at the far end of Berkeley Street to avert such an event. That could be why a killer was lying in wait when he went to Iguana Street on Sunday morning - but there were also other local rivals out to get him.

Again, while the family did not want to speak with us on camera, they did reveal to us their suspicions that Mark Medina was lured to his death. They told us that he had been trying to recover some items, which were owed to him by the person who lives at #19 Iguana Street. He reportedly had been requesting that his belongings were returned to him, and this person called him to go and retrieve them. The person wasn't there, and while he was on the phone, that's when the gunman ran out from the yard where he was expecting to meet up with the person who owed him.

For his mother, Pamela, this kind of loss only serves to open old wounds. Her youngest son, 19 year-old Shamir Medina was killed on March 25, 2011. His mother told us that someone shot at Mark Medina, on the anniversary of his brother's death, and yesterday, one month later, he was killed.

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