Gunfire Erupts at North Creek Road Basketball Court, Two Dead

Police trucks swarmed North Creek Road last night after gunshots erupted at a basketball court in the area. Police arrived shortly after 7:45 and found two men suffering from gunshot wounds. The victims, later identified as residents of the area, had been targeted minutes before and mortally wounded. Reporter Vejea Alvarez was on the scene and filed the following report. 

Vejea Alvarez, Love News: Two lives were tragically cut short in Belize City yesterday evening following a heated altercation that investigators believe spiraled into a deadly shooting. The incident, which has left the community in shock, unfolded amid a routine night on North Creek Road as residents socialized at a basketball court. Assistant Commissioner of Police Hilberto Romero says police swiftly responded to the scene, where they discovered 20-year-old Marvin Pook and 30-year-old Anthony Young suffering from gunshot wounds.

ACP Hilberto Romero, Officer Commanding Eastern Division: “Around 7:39pm police responded to a shooting incident at North Creek Belize City. Upon their arrival they found two persons with gun shot injuries. The persons were immediately rushed to the KHMH for treatment but they succumbed shortly thereafter. Information is that they were sitting on a chair near the basketball court when a motorcycle arrived with two persons. One of the persons got off the motorcycle and came close to them and fired several shots towards their direction causing their fatal injuries.”

Vejea Alvarez, Love News: The area was ina close proximity to the Raccoon Street Police Station and several police substations. So, how did the shooters elude the police? According to ACP Romero, the incident unfolded within minutes. 

ACP Hilberto Romero, Officer Commanding Eastern Division: “They came on a motorcycle. It’s just a couple feet from the street side where the shooting occurred. It happened fast, the person jumped back on the motorcycle and they took off.”

Vejea Alvarez, Love News: Pook was a call center agent whose family described him as a hard-working person, and Young was not a troublemaker, according to residents. So why were they killed? Investigators believe the double homicide may have been sparked by a fight involving the men.

ACP Hilberto Romero, Officer Commanding Eastern Division: “The information we have gathered so far there was a fight yesterday involving these persons and that is the information we’re getting, somebody came after them in that area. We are following up on that to determine what the fight was about.”

Vejea Alvarez, Love News: Investigators are reviewing surveillance footage and have detained several suspects. However, contrary to eyewitness reports, police say the men were not amongst a group of persons and were the intended targets. 

ACP Hilberto Romero, Officer Commanding Eastern Division: “Only two of them were sitting there at the time.”

Reporter: So it was likely that one of them or both of them were the intended targets ? 

ACP Hilberto Romero, Officer Commanding Eastern Division: “We are not certain if they were the intended targets but they were the only two persons there at the time of the shooting. They frequent that area, one of them lives in that immediate area.”

Vejea Alvarez, Love News.