Gang Violence Flare-Up in Belize City: Shootings Spur Intensive Police Response

Police are working to pacify a flareup in gang activity in Belize City after several shootings put rival groups on the warpath. The genesis of the flare-up was the shooting of thirty-nine-year-old Brandon Baptist at the Marion Jones Complex at the end of January. On Saturday, February 15, 32-year-old Akeem Smith was returning from a fishing trip when he and three others came under gunfire. Smith was grazed to the head and hit to the body but survived the attempt on his life. Three days later, thirty-six-year-old Leon Gray was shot while walking near the Princess Hotel just before three in the morning. Gray was treated at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital and later released. Police Commissioner Chester Willaims acknowledged that there is a flare-up in gang activity, particularly in the PIV area. Williams says that the department has mobilized resources to get the situation under control. Williams notes that these efforts have stretched the department thin, but provisions are still being made to ensure duties like securing judges are not affected.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police: “Yes we do have an uptick in gang activity and over the past two weeks following the death of Brandon Baptist we have seen that the threat level in Belize City has increased and we have also deployed additional police officers on the ground and we’re conducting daily operations in the Martins area and then we saw with last weekend where Majestic Alley came into the fray when it was alleged that they were responsible for the shooting of Akeem Smith. So that has now stretched our operations to the north side, again we don’t want to leave any area open for gangs to be able to execute their intended acts and so we’re doing as best as we can to contain the gang violence for now.”

Reporter: Is that stretching you out so thin that.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police:  “Of course we’re stretched extremely thing and everybody wants police, even the ones who don’t like police want police now. We’re stretched really thin. We also have to look at the high court for security.”

Williams notes that Baptist had worked with police in mediating gang flareups in the past./