Leela Vernon's grandson, Mario Vernon the Third, was laid to rest in PG Town on Saturday. You'll remember that he's the PG resident who was killed by Police Constable Tevin Aranda in a controversial shooting.
Aranda, who has been charged with manslaughter, claimed that on Saturday, January 13, Vernon pulled a weapon on him, and he had to shoot him in the head. That account is forcefully contested by Vernon's friend's and family, who insist that Vernon had no gun, and that Aranda should be charged with murder.
Now, Vernon's grandmother, Leela, is not the only well-known Belizean he's related to. Turns out his uncles are Stanley and Dennis Usher, 2 former elected parliamentarians, and at the funeral, they both had some strong comments about his death.
Here's what they had to say, courtesy our colleagues from PGTV:
Dennis Usher, Uncle of the Deceased
"My wife stood and was talking to my son for half an hour. He wanted to go out, because he came in and was spending some time. Basically if my wife didn't have that back and forth with my son, perhaps he would have been right there when that trigger would have been pulled. Who knows if my son would have been one of them. They are family. They are blood. It hurts, because it is wrong. I want to make clear, there are some police men who walk straight and says Mr. Usher this is murder. They are high police men who reached at my house sit done and says what are you guys going to do? This there is no way it can be covered up."
Stanley Usher, Uncle of the Deceased
"I am a law abiding citizen, I never ran into trouble. I was an area representative. Those things would have never happen in my time. I am very surprised its happening now and that can't go down like that."
The Vernon and Usher families are organizing a protest to demand justice for Mario Vernon's death this coming Saturday in PG Town.
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