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Here's the story:

Daniel Ortiz reporting
At around 5 p.m. yesterday, residents of Gristock Street in Orange Walk crowded along the police cordon to see two of their neighbours lying lifeless on the road. 17 year-old Rene Acevedo Jr. and 19 year-old Erlindo Matura Jr. were gunned down and killed execution style by a gunman who lured them into a conversation to get their guard down.

It's the kind of thing no family would want to find out. But, Maria Matura ran out of her house shortly after hearing the gunshots. She found her son, Erlindo Jr., dying where he'd collapsed on the road. That image will forever be with her, that moment when he took his last breath.

Maria Matura - Mother of Erlindo Matura Jr.
"I just ran outside. When I ran outside I just see my son out there on the road lying down with gunshots already dead. He was face up. He was bleeding. He didn't die instant. He just took one breathe, smiled and die on my hands. That's what I saw out there. But I couldn't believe he was already gone. I didn't believe that my son was dead."

The mothers of both young men, along with the Orange Walk police commander, narrated how the double murder unfolded.

Lupita Rhaburn - Mother of Rene Acevedo Jr.
"My son was at my sister and he and his friend went to another friend's house about 6 houses away from here to borrow 2 DVDs. Because they were to come back to watch DVD with my niece."

Maria Matura - Mother of Erlindo Matura Jr.
"The shooter called his name and so he went out there and he was talking to him."

ASP Selvin Tillett - OC, Orange Walk Police
"Initial investigations revealed that sometime around 4:30pm, a male person who was dressed in blue t-shirt, a three quarter pants riding a bicycle asked both persons where drugs were sold."

Maria Matura - Mother of Erlindo Matura Jr.
"That's when he shoot my son."

Reporter
"So it was at close range you would say?"

Maria Matura - Mother of Erlindo Matura Jr.
"Yeah, that was at close range."

Lupita Rhaburn - Mother of Rene Acevedo Jr.
"Then my son and his friends started to run and when they started to run then they shot after the next young man. But the gun didn't go off and then the gun went off on my son and the bullet caught my son in his head back and he fell and that was it."

The shooter then ran away, stole a bike from a nearby female, and rode off with a few of the residents chasing after him. He managed to escape, but in all of that, it is believed that a number of persons may have seen his face.

ASP Selvin Tillett - OC, Orange Walk Police
"We have gotten a description of the said person and we have several policemen out there recording statements from certain witnesses who hopefully can assist us in the detention of this person. We have a basic ID of who we are looking for at this moment."

Police don't yet have a motive for this incident, but they say that they encountered both young men a number of the times in the past, times in which they were in conflict with the law.

ASP Selvin Tillett - OC, Orange Walk Police
"What I can say is that they were known to the police."

Right next to the Matura home, someone in the community spray painted the wall with their names to remember them. It's the kind of thing which gang members are known to do in memory of their "fallen soldiers". That would suggest a certain lifestyle that they may have led, and Matura's mother did not shy away from it:

Daniel Ortiz
"My intention is not to trample on the memory of your son. But did he ever came in conflict with the law? Was he ever someone who made wrong decisions and ended up doing bad things?"

Maria Matura - Mother of Erlindo Matura Jr.
"Yes he did that. He was from young, my husband chased him from his house. So he came, didn't have any mother or father. Only friends. You know when you are with friends and they tell you go and do this, go and do that - like the devil is right behind you. So he did that."

But, for Lupita Rhaburn, tragedy has visited her home twice now in just a few short months. Her elder son, an alleged robber, was killed in Belize City during a failed attempt.

Lupita Rhaburn - Mother of Rene Acevedo Jr.
"I could talk for my son. I can't sway for my son. When my son is at home, he is quiet, loving. Everybody have their little ways, but if he walk out of my house, he would come and kiss me on my cheek and he would say mom, I am coming back, I am going at a certain place. I said okay son. I could count the time he doesn't do it. He loved me. He showed me a lot of love and just 3 months ago I lost my first son."

Daniel Ortiz
"How did you lose him ma'am?"

Lupita Rhaburn - Mother of Rene Acevedo Jr.
"I am not proud of it. He was the young man that went to rob Monica's Pawn Shop in Belize City. I didn't raise them like that. I talked to them and I told them the love of God."

For the other mom, make no mistake, the controlled composure hides the torrent of pain and grief she is experiencing at the loss of her son.

Maria Matura - Mother of Erlindo Matura Jr.
"I am here. Yesterday I was terrible crying and thing. But right now I want to cry, but I can't because they took me to the hospital to get an injection so I cannot cry. So I have the pain here in me, but I just have to keep strong. I know I lost my son."

Police tell us that both victims were detained and released last week because they were being investigated for a report against them. The third young man who was with both Acevedo and Matura was also a target of the gunman. Although the shooter fired several shots at him, he escaped unharmed.

Orange Walk police expect to make an arrest soon.