7 News Belize

Barber Killed, Armed Woman Cop Was In His Car
posted (December 28, 2017)
Well known Belize City barber Fareed Ahmad is dead. The 38 year old was killed early this morning in circumstances which can only be considered highly unusual. That's because he was found dead in his crashed vehicle - but he didn't die from the impact - he died from a bullet to the head - and his only passenger was a woman police officer. Daniel Ortiz has bene looking for answers from this morning.

Daniel Ortiz reporting
Sometime after midnight last, Hattieville residents gathered on the side of the George Price Highway, where they found Fareed Ahmad's BMW X5 crashed here, about a mile from his Hattieville home.

The first responders tell us that he was and he was slumped over the steering wheel and bleeding from the face. His passenger, Woman Police Constable Michelle Brown was injured form the impact of the accident since most of the damage to the vehicle was on the passenger's side.

One resident who took Ahmad out of the vehicle told us how he appeared.

Voice of: Resident - Rendered Aid
"I immediately asked the guys if they could help me take out the driver. I got there and saw that it was Fareed who was sitting in the driver's seat of the vehicle. Another young man and myselt took him out and placed him on the ground, and two other people helped to take the passenger. There was a female in there on the passenger side, and they took her out and placed her on the ground, and waited for the ambulance. I saw that he had like a swell on his head, and his mouth appeared to be burst. I thought that he was bleeding a little bit too much for me, and that was why I was anxious to get the ambulance to take him down."

What he later learned out is that all that blood loss was from a gunshot wound he suffered - one to the face. Ahmad died at the KHMH early this morning while undergoing treatment.

Now, it is uncertain how Ahmad was shot, but the speculation is that Brown, being the only other person in the vehicle, is most-likely the one who shot him.

First responders, who refused to give any recorded comments, told us that Brown was claiming that Ahmad reached for her service firearm, and they struggled over it.

Now, mysteriously, that service weapon is missing; and so is Ahmad's licensed handgun, which friends and relatives say he always kept on him.

Also, there has been no explanation as to how and why Brown ended up in Ahmad's vehicle, in Hattieville, at that time of the night; though there is heavy speculation on that.

And there is one more unusual element: Officer Brown is a member of the Special Assignment Team, and both the family and police sources say that he recently made a formal complaint of harassment against several officers from that same unit.

Taheera Ahmad - Sister of the Deceased
"In fact, what we know is that Fareed was targeted last week, having his vehicle searched at the Raccoon Street Police Station. From that search, he again alleged harrassment, and excessive use of force, as he was subdued, handcuffed, and taken to the station, by the new Special Assignment Team. Unfortunately, what we also know is that yesterday morning, Fareed made a formal complaint to the police internal affairs office, with Mr. Williams, and less than 12 hours later, my brother was ambushed."

And while Ahmad's family struggled to discuss the different aspects of his violent killing, we note that he was always friendly with the press.

Our archives say that we started encountering him on the news trail as far back as 2006 when he was using his trade of barbering as a community outreach mechanism.

In fact, in 2013, he and other well-known barbers assisted the YWCA with a barbering program to help at risk young men with the talent for it.

File: May 6, 2013
Fareed Ahmad

"They wanted us to create a program that could assist young men to earn their own living. You can learn how to cut hair or probably your personality or the way you come across to your customers might be a deterrent so it's something we try to work on also. This was an aspect we ensured we dealt with."

And he also didn't shy away from the tougher topics, such as in June of last year, when 6 of his family members had their home raided, and all their electronics were confiscated by the Special Branch. He was the spokesperson for his family in their public complaint against that treatment from the police.

File: June 22, 2016
Fareed Ahmad

"Their extreme and inhuman actions included false imprisonment, unlawful invasion of our homes, unlawful detention, kidnapping, invasion of our privacy, deprivation of our simple constitutional rights to communicate with an attorney of our choice or any at all and very importantly our religious liberty."

Taheera Ahmad
"Let me lastly, foreshadow, another brother of mine has already started to levie these same accusations against police."

So, as you heard, there are many questions that are unanswered, and today, the family added a few more that they want the police investigations to shed light on. Here are those:

Taheera Ahmad - Sister of the Deceased
"We have many questions, like the public, even though our family continues to be tipped by members in the police force, since this incident occurred. We questioned, why wasn't the scene secured by any officers, when the incident happened, especially since a WPC was involved in this incident. Why wasn't the place secured off, cordoned off, since both persons were known to have weapons, and when they arrived at the hospital, none of them had their weapons on them. So, it's assumed that the weapons were inside that vehicle? Why wasn't the place secured off, when the police station is less than a quarter mile away? Why did members of the SAT show up at KHMH right after the incident, only to confirm if my brother had passed away? Why did they show up at the scene this morning, and Mr. Chester Williams had to chase them away? I'm sure there will be a response from the police department, but to us, the SAT team's behavior has caused us great alarm and grief."

Abdul Ahmad - Brother of the Deceased
"I arrived on the scene couple minutes after the accident. There were individuals out there, the first responders who mentioned that they heard shots, prior to the accident."

Ahmad leaves behind 4 children, and a family that is reeling from his untimely passing.

We note that Ahmad becomes the second member of his family to be killed this year. The first was Nadir Ali Ahmad, who had been radicalized and killed by Filipino security forces as a member of a terrorist group while using the name Abu Naila.

Now, when he was radicalized, his family in Belize - was rounded up and detained and had their computers and electronic devices throughly scanned - in an operation led by the then head . Since then the Ahmad family has had an especially distrustful relationship with police - which may have led to the complaint he made yesterday against the S-A-T - which also answers to Vidal - and of which his passenger was a member.

Today, the Football Federation of Belize also sent out a press release noting his death.

Their press release says, quote, "Fareed had joined the Belize District Association of Football Referees in 2009 and rose in prominence to become a National Referee by 2012. He was a disciplined person who attended most of the monthly training in Belmopan for national referees.

Fareed was on his way to becoming one of the top referees in Belize as he officiated the second leg of the Premier Leagues of Belize Opening Season Semi Final match between the Belmopan Bandits and San Pedro Pirates on Saturday November 25, 2017."

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