And so while Belize City remains tense, strangely, so does Corozal. That northern town has seen a number of armed robberies and burglaries in the last few weeks and last night it witnessed a murder - which is rare for the quiet municipality.
Last night, at around 8:30, an 18 year-old young man was killed in a shooting on the San Antonio Road.
Aidan Perez's death was particularly senseless because he wasn't even involved in any arguments which may have led to the shooting.
He was hanging out with his family and friends when a gunman rode up and fired gunshots at the crowd, and he was hit under the left armpit.
He fell on the ground - out of the view of fleeing relatives and friends - and no one saw him until it was too late.
His grieving family spoke to us today and told us about the events that led to the shooting.
Here's what we found out today:
Daniel Ortiz reporting
18 year-old Aidan Perez was shot at this spot in an escalated argument which started on the street.
The young man was not involved in an altercation between his cousin and a group of young men from another village.
Still, he was caught in barrage of bullets not meant for him, and he was fatally injured.
His elder cousin explained the events which led to his shooting and eventual death.
Raymond Jones - Cousin of the Murder Victim
"We were home about, I'd say minutes after 7, so my little brother went out on the bike. He then came back, and he was telling the rest of guys about something that happened between him and some boys from a village. So, we continued to sit down. We never had anything to do, so we continued to sit down on my verandah. About 2 minutes after that, I saw a crowd of boys come in front of my house, so my little brother went out there, and they started an argument. I then went out there, and I told them that they had to calm it down because this is my house, I have kids here, and I don't want anyone to get hurt. So, one of the boys pulled out a gun - well, what we thought was a pellet gun, but no pellet gun releases smoke - and he fired a shot over my little brother's head, and they then ran into this next yard. When they ran into the yard, they went about their business. So, the people from the house that is connected to same young boys, they ended up in the argument that they didn't have anything in. It looks like one of them called their brother who lives up the road, and he rode up with the gun in his hand. So, while all of us were out there, we saw him coming. A lot of people - not only those who were in the fight - everybody shouted that the man was coming with a gun, and everybody should scatter, but nobody moved. He rode past everybody, and he went over to the next side, where his father lives, and he pulled out the gun. He cranked the gun, and when he pulled the trigger, it looked like it snapped. And he went down again, but by time I saw that I remember that I had my son in the house, and my mind went on locking it up. I went into the yard a bit, and I heard the first shot. I continued to lock up, and I heard my mother scream that my brother got shot. She told me to go with her because Kareem got shot. My first priority was to find out where he got shot."
Kareem Jones got shot in the leg. In quick response, the family rushed him to the hospital where he is now in stable condition.
Little did they know that Aidan was also injured in the gun fire.
It was not until his father came to look for him, that they discovered him dying.
Raymond Jones
"My uncle - Aidan's father - he came around and he was missing Aidan. He started asking around, and he came to back here because when the shooting happened everybody ran to the front. And when he came, my other little brother told me that he and my uncle found him on the ground just trying to crawl. It was already too late because he got a shot in heart, one in his ribs, and one in his leg."
By the time his father got to him, Aidan's injuries were already taking their toll.
And by the time he was rushed to the hospital, he succumbed, and was pronounced dead on arrival.
Jones told us that his family is beside themselves with grief, especially at the way he died.
Raymond Jones
"It's so sad to find him like that. We were at the front and we didn't know that he was trying to fight for his life. It really hurts because I help shelter this young man. He is not a saint, I mean, I'm not going to swear for him, but he never took anyone's life before. And like I said, he never had anything in this."
Aidan's family expects that the police will be able to charge the shooter, who is currently on the run.
He said that there were many witnesses who saw the gunman's face.
Raymond Jones
"Everybody body knows who it is that did it because he came barefaced on the bike without a cap or a rag."
And with that, police have a suspect who is known to them.
Perez's family told us that that this alleged shooter fired shots at them before, and he has had problems with them in the past. Also, Perez went to the Corozal Police Station to make a report against the men who came after his cousin previously.
Unfortunately, he requested that no court action be taken, and the report was pushed into the police files.
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