At around 10:00 this morning, police responded to a violent and bloody scene on Freedom Street in Belize City. Nineteen year old Linsdale Flowers was found chopping his own stepmother, Consuelo Pop and his neighbour Diangelo Figueroa with a machete. Police immediately arrested Flowers, and the badly injured Pop was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. Senior Superintendent Alden Dawson briefed us on what the police know about the grisly crime…
Sr. Supt. Dean Dawson - Deputy OC, ED South
"Sometime after 10 AM this morning police responded to a chopping incident on Lewis Bevans street. Upon the arrival they conducted an investigation into the incident which reveals that 19 year old Dinsdale Flowers had inflicted chop wound to his step mother 52 year old Consuelo Pop and a neighbour Diangelo Figueroa. Consuelo received chop to her hands and her forehead whilst Diangelo received chop wounds to his back. At this Consuelo is listed as critical and the motive for this recent incident is unknown at this time however the accused is in police custody."
Duane Moody
"Now sir we understand that police officers from the nearby patrol on Freedom Street were the ones that responded to screams of help and arrived and saw the young man chopping his step mother. Can you confirm this?"
Sr. Supt. Dean Dawson - Deputy OC, ED South
"Well police was in the area, the patrol was in the area as we do have a patrol in the Lewis Bevans area and they quickly responded and intervened."
The victims were taken to the KHMH. Figueroa was treated for chop wounds to his back and forearms and released. Pop wasn’t so lucky; she is in critical condition due to massive head injuries. Her daughter Gloria gave us her account of what happened, and says that she was not satisfied with the police’s response…
Gloria Pop - Daughter of Victim
"I mi the bathe and I hear like somebody fall down and I get the towel to go cross and I hear my ma shout my name before I reach the door and when I run they so and I reach inna the room he done in the room the chop my ma and I start struggle with he for the machete and me and he the struggle inside and my ma end up the run outside but she mi done get chop in her head and her hand and she run up the street to try get help and mean time me and he the struggle inside but he da a man so he eventually get the machete back and chase after my ma but I run because he mi want chop me too. So I run out of the way and he chase after my ma and continue chop my ma on the street and no stop and I just have to the shout for help for somebody to help and I no see nobody, no police, nothing and like 15-20 minutes he there so the chop my ma then the two police they reach. The see this bwai the chop my ma and the holla put down the machete, put down the machete we will shoot; come on if you see somebody the chop up somebody I think the police job is to shoot ah no tell ah you will shoot ah you understand me. My ma practically the bleed to death on the street (crying...) and they will talk about put down the machete... they could have at least do something, seriously. You know then ambulance take like forever fi reach, it just crazy..."
Alex Courtney
"Do you have any idea what his motives were, what was the reason he was so angry with your mother?"
Gloria Pop - Daughter of Victim
"I no have no idea, from last night he came home and look like he mi deh pan drugs or something and he come home and just start acting crazy and then his pa mi deh home last night and his dad see what mi di happen with he you know and it just so happen that he gone this morning, come back. He come ask my mom for money, my mom give ah, we never think he mi wa come down and do that you know. I'm surprises, I'm surprised myself because I never expect that to happen any at all."
Alex Courtney
"Can you give us an update on your mother's condition currently?"
Gloria Pop - Daughter of Victim
"Well... the doctor say she is stable but she's still under observation because maybe swelling could occur in the brain because she get fractured in the head and her hands they are fractured. She got multiple chop wounds on her hand, head, the back so we honestly don't really know what could be the outcome, we just have to hope for the best and pray."
At this point, no one can say for sure why Flowers’s did it and he is being held pending charges. The case is currently being investigated by the Domestic Violence Unit, but as the case progresses and depending on Pop’s condition, the CIB may take over.
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