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15 Year-old Remanded For Police Shooting; Cops Tried To Help Him
posted (June 20, 2016)
Police Corporal Alrick Arnold continues to recover at the KHMH from the gunshot injuries he suffered on last Friday. He was injured in the line of duty after he got into a gunfight with a 15 year-old shooter who was trying to kill a known gang figure right in front of the Queen Street Police Station.

Family members tell us that reports from the hospital are that he was up on his feet today and is able to walk around, signs that the immediate danger of his injuries has passed.

The 15 year-old gunman is now at the Belize Central Prison, and the 3 other civilians who were injured in the shoot-out are also recovering. Investigators, we understand, are working to build an airtight case against him for the very brazen attack he tried to carry out. His target, as we've reported, was George Street's Brandon "BT" Tillett, who was signing in at the Queen Street Station as he is required to do every Friday, as a part of his conditions for bail.

The gunman, who had been waiting outside the gate for him, was dressed like an ordinary civilian, most likely to hide in plain sight. As soon as he spotted "BT" coming through the gate, this young man pulled out his glock 9mm pistol and opened fired at him, but he missed. Corporal Arnold, who was heading to the Station, came upon the shooting, and he pulled his weapon. He engaged the shooter, who fired back at him and shot him in the chest. In the wake of the shooting, 3 other person were injured, namely Elroy Saldano, Kean Smith, and Graciela Castillo. The shooter tried to flee, but he was quickly caught.

It's almost unthinkable that a gunman would openly challenge the police department and try to commit murder right on their front door. So today, we spoke to Eastern Division South's Commander, Chester Williams, about it, given that he instituted a curfew to get potential boy killers off the street. He told us that he encountered this very same young man in the recent past, and he tried to get this 15 year-old back to his parents in the south:

ACP Chester Williams - OC, Eastern Division South
"It goes back to what we have been saying that it is paramount that we begin to focus as a society to remove these kids from out of the hands of those persons who live every day to perpetrate criminal acts and on the Southside we have been doing it. Yes the young man involved, he is known to be frequenting that area on Southside Belize City and I must say that he had been dealt with by the police in the past and we have removed him from the home of a known gang area on Southside Belize City as well and he was sent to Dangriga where we know his mother is and I guess for some reason or the other the mother did not supervise him properly. He came back to Belize City and he commit this heinous act."

Daniel Ortiz
"Right thinking individuals would never attempt to stage such a brazen act of violence in front of a police station where there is the possibility that he could get injured, hurt and immediately detained, as in this case where this young man was apprehended. Do you believe he was coerced into doing something as extreme as this?"

ACP Chester Williams - OC, Eastern Division South
"Well like you rightly said, I don't think any sane individual would want to perpetrate an act like that and the fact that he did, my believe was that he was not acting on his own. I think that he was like you rightly said, coerced by someone to go and commit that act."

Immediately after the shooting, Williams and his mediation team chaired a session between the two feuding gangs, who had asked for this intervention long before this attempt on Brandon Tillett's life. Williams shared a few brief details of the heated conversation that they tried to encourage so that both sides could agree to a temporary cease fire:

ACP Chester Williams - OC, Eastern Division South
"We did had an intervention and myself, Miss Finnegan and Mr. Nuri Muhammad sat with two groups and the objective there was to be able to deescalate the tensions that exists in between the two groups and at the end of the day I must say that the result or the outcome as to what both groups are saying was good and I must say that the intervention was requested by both groups, contacted myself and Miss Finnegan and said that they want us to intervene, because they were not feeling too comfortable with how each other were moving and based on that we activated and we had the intervention and we will see how much committed they are to their words. They made some commitments in the intervention that they will cease fire among themselves and try to live more peaceful with each other. So we will see what works out. But even though they have said that, we maintain our presence on the ground and we maintain our vigilance just in case thing doesn't work out the way they said that it should."

Daniel Ortiz
"But a lot has happened between them. There is a lot of bad blood, a lot of past hurts. Do you think as the person sitting at helm of this intervention, that they will keep their word?"

ACP Chester Williams - OC, Eastern Division South
"I am a person, I believe in being optimistic and I remain cautiously optimistic that they will hold true to their words."

This afternoon the 15 year-old gunman was arraigned in the Family Court for 4 counts of attempted murder, 4 counts of use of deadly means of harm, 2 counts of dangerous harm, 2 counts of wounding, 1 count of possession of an unlicensed firearm, and 1 count of possession of unlicensed ammunition. He has been remanded into custody until his next court date.

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