February, 2025 - Channel 5 Belize

Blood Bath Inside Marion Jones Sporting Complex

The shocking murder of thirty-nine-year-old Brandon Baptist during a football match at the Marion Jones Sporting Complex has sent shockwaves through the sports community. News Five was on the scene, covering the game for our weekly Sports Monday segment, and captured firsthand video footage as the tragic incident unfolded. This has raised several pressing questions: Was there adequate police presence at the match? How did the shooter manage to enter the stadium with a firearm? News Five’s Paul Lopez has the details.

Paul Lopez, Reporting

The Marion Jones Sporting Complex saw a massive turnout on Friday night for the Belize District Football Association’s Semi-Finals matches. The night took a tragic turn during the second and final game between Survivors Football Club and Reggae Boys Football Club. Thirty-six minutes into the match, a Survivors player was fouled inside the penalty box, setting the stage for a crucial penalty shot. The tension was palpable as the players prepared for the decisive moment. Just as the goalkeeper and kicker were getting ready, gunshots suddenly rang out, grabbing the attention of everyone on the field. There was a moment of stunned silence before a second round of shots sent the athletes scrambling for cover. In the chaos, a woman was seen sprinting across the field to grab her child who was playing near the outdoor gym. The shots had come from the direction of a group of spectators near the entrance, causing panic and confusion among the crowd. Today, Commissioner of Police Chester Williams confirmed that there was a breakdown of communication between law enforcement officers.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“Certainly there is some breakdown in terms of the police officers working at such a game. I can say to you that I was not aware of that game being played. I also checked with Mr. Romero, and he do said that he was not aware of the game.”

As the shots rang out there was a stampede in the stands, as fans ran for cover. In the aftermath, one woman was seen on the ground overtaken by grief and in disbelief. A black car, its passenger door flung open, sped out of the parking lot with shooting victims inside, racing towards the nearby Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. Blood stained the ramp leading up to the stands where the victims were shot, a grim reminder of the night’s violence.

Chester Williams

“We are seeing there is a trend where people are putting together sporting activities in good faith to bring rivalling communities together as a form of intervention through sports. But instead of applying to the commissioner of police for security they find their own police officers and get those police officers to provide security for them. And many times the level of security they are getting for these events is not adequate.”

Spectators, shaken and in shock, gathered on the football field. Tragically, well-known street figure Brandon Baptist, thirty-nine, was pronounced dead in the aftermath.

Chester Williams

“There is no way on earth we would have allowed three police officers to work a game of such magnitude where there are lone gang members. So the fact that there is this shortcut needs to be eliminated and I have said to commanders that If it is that they encounter any such event and there is inadequate security or they have not applied to commander on the ground or the commissioner of police they must bring the event to a stop until they can get adequate police to work this event.”

The incident prompted a statement by the President of the Football Federation of Belize, Sergio Chuc.

Sergio Chuc, President, F.F.B

“A place meant for unity was struck with fear and grief. We extend our deepest condolences to the families, the victims and all affected by this meaningless act of savagery. Football is meant to inspire, build character and unite, not to be a place of sorrow.”

The Belize District First Division Tournament draws teams from all over the district, but most are from Belize City, a municipality gripped by gun violence. Brandon Baptist was likely at the game on Friday to support his brothers, Akeem, Raheem, and Hubert Baptist, who all play for the Lake Independence Football Club. But where was the police presence? A police mobile arrived just five minutes after the shooting, and one person was seen being handcuffed and placed in the back of the vehicle. News Five has learned that only four police officers were assigned to the event due to a lack of sponsorship for the tournament.

Sergio Chuc

“This year the FFB is expanding initiatives in new programs such as goals before gangs, and Not Impossible Because She is Possible. These programs will reach over three thousand at risk youths. But programs are not enough, with the combined efforts of parents, mentors, coaches and community leaders, we can teach our children that violence is never the answer and that their lives are important.”

A premier league match scheduled for Sunday at the Marion Jones Sporting Complex has been postponed.

Chester Williams

“I had advised the president of the FFB to postpone the game to give us some time to deal with what took place on Friday. It is not because we don’t think we can handle it. Most of our officers were engaged with Friday night’s incident or dealing with operations in the Martin areas and other areas and other areas to avert retaliation.”

Interestingly, the stadium was bustling again on Saturday morning, less than twelve hours after the tragic incident, for high school and collegiate sports. This time, police officers were out in full force, conducting thorough searches on students at the entrance. The bloodstains from the previous night’s murder still marked the footpath, a stark reminder for the young athletes of the violence that had occurred. Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.

Police Special Duties Without Permission

ComPol Williams has often criticized how his officers handle special duties. It’s well-known that officers take on extra assignments to earn some extra cash. However, the commissioner insists that they shouldn’t be sneaking around behind their superiors’ backs to do so.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“The officers who would have gotten the call to work the event ought to have said to the organizers, I cannot work this event without you seeking permission first from the commissioner of the local commander. It does not have to come to me. A game that is of such nature within eastern division, the organizers could have gone to Mr. Romero and said we are having this basketball game at such and such a place. We need security to work the event. Mr. Romero would be in a position to approve and tell them your request is approved and this is the amount of police you would be required to pay for this event. So, what happens is his response would be nothing less than ten police. They don’t want to pay for ten police so they would go behind him to the lower level officers to get them to work for them and just get three.”

Reporter

“Was Mr. Gamboa the contracting officer?”

Chester Williams

“Mr. Gamboa is saying no, on that particular night he was not notified. But he also admitted that on two other occasions he was contacted and he and worked there. I said to Mr. Gamboa that as a senior officer he would have had an obligation to inform myself or Mr. Romero or refer the people to myself or Mr. Romero to decide how much police would have to work the event.”

Reporter

“Did they do any search of people coming into the game?”

Chester Williams

“I asked that question and they say yes they did. I cant say they were lying, because you and I would know that the integrity of the Marion Jones fence is weak. People can throw things over the fence and come in through the ordinary way and when they get into the compound they can go and get the thing on them. But even in the absence of that, when you have the PIV and BLC gangs on the bleachers in the same area police officers ought to have been up there to make sure there was no clash between them. That did not happen.”

Man Murdered while Relaxing in Hammock with Wife

Police are currently investigating a tragic murder that took place on Friday evening in Cotton Tree Village. Thirty-year-old Seferino Maas Pop and his wife, Amalia, were peacefully relaxing in their hammock on the front veranda when a male voice called out to Pop. Moments later, the man fired several shots, fatally wounding Pop. News Five’s Britney Gordon has the full report.

Britney Gordon, Reporting

On Friday night, thirty-year-old Seferino Maas Pop was unwinding with his wife, relaxing in a hammock on their front veranda in Cotton Tree Village, when tragedy struck. It had only been about half an hour since Pop had come home from a long day at work when someone called out “Leeco,” a childhood nickname. Moments later, gunshots rang out, fatally wounding Pop. His brother, Alfonso Pop, was among the last to see him alive.

Voice of: Alfonso Pop, Brother of Deceased

“My lee breda just mi do come work with me. We just mi reach bout twenty minutes after work. I mi di look fi go bathe in the shower. I just hear some shots burst outside and then I come out outside. I looking for somebody. I mi think police deh round because police deh around every minute. I just come out, I looking around, fi he wife mi di bawl. She seh oh you breda, ney kill you breda. We tek like surprise because da lee bwai, he noh get into problem. Always I seh to everybody. Always when somebody done dead, ney call him a good person or a and person but this whole village di seh bout this lee young bally yah, ehy ney kill because I know I have other brothers when ney drunk ney look foi problem and so but he, when he drunk he noh get no problem with nobody.”

As the shots rang out, Cho dashed into the house, miraculously escaping unharmed. Despite this, Cho and the rest of the family are deeply shaken by the targeted attack. Pop mentioned that if the shooter hadn’t called his brother by name, he would have thought it was a case of mistaken identity.

Voice of: Alfonso Pop

“They call fi he name before ney do that. So we cya seh ney do it by mistake or ney come deal with the wrong person. I can’t seh. If ney no call fi he name, we mi wa seh maybe ney gone look fi other persons and ney kill the wrong person. But ney call his name before tney come to fi he house.”

According to A.C.P. Hilberto Romero, police are yet to determine a motive but have two suspects in custody.

A.C.P. Hilberto Romero, Regional Commander, Eastern Division

“Around seven p.m, police responded to a shooting incident at Cotton Tree Village. Upon the arrival, they saw the lifeless body of Seferino Pop. Information that he was on the veranda of his house when someone called his name. He got up and that is when several shots were heard causing his fatal injuries. In regards to this investigation, we have two persons in custody. And the investigation continues.”

At the time of the attack, police were out on their nightly patrols in the area, which has unfortunately become a hotspot for violent crimes in recent years.

A.C.P. Hilberto Romero

“Operations are being conducted how searches and different policing operations in that area, but by the time they responded, the suspect had already left.”

The loss of his brother is a devastating blow for Alfonso, who had been supporting Seferino in building a life with his family. That day, Alfonso had invited Seferino to work with him and share a meal, not knowing it would be their last lunch together.

Voice of: Alfonso Pop

“My lee breda, like I said, I know he just work everyday. Seven to five. Just come home, we do a lee drinking and so. No all the weekend to but he drink. But like I seh, he no offend nobody. Like everybody she he used to heng all round the village, go Belmopan and so ney she why ney kill the young bwai but da di person weh no offend nobody.”

Romero explained that the police employ a variety of tactics to reduce crime in the area, driven by different motivating factors.

A.C.P. Hilberto Romero

“We have different, one is drug activity and other rivalries between persons not area. There is a team that is in that area to try to prevent these shootings.”

Britney Gordon for News Five.

Was Devon Chable the Victim of Vehicular Homicide?

In another incident, twenty-two-year-old Devon Chable lost his life at the hands of people he knew. The tragedy unfolded in the Altamira area of Corozal Town, where three individuals in a pickup truck reportedly chased Chable as he desperately tried to escape on his bicycle. The pursuit ended near Naybaz Store, where the driver allegedly ran him over. Despite being rushed to the Corozal Community Hospital, Chable unfortunately died on the way. Prompt police action led to the arrest of two suspects, while the third is believed to be hiding in San Pedro.

6-year-old Stella Maris Student Drowns at Hangar

An investigation is underway after the tragic drowning of six-year-old Gabriel Pablo Orellano, a student at Stella Maris School. Earlier today, Gabriel left school and somehow ended up at the hangar near the Belize City municipal airstrip. Sadly, he entered the water and didn’t resurface until his body washed ashore later. In response to this tragedy, Stella Maris School canceled classes for the rest of the day. This afternoon, the Ministry of Education issued a statement expressing their deep sorrow over the loss. They emphasized their commitment to supporting Gabriel’s family during this difficult time and urged the community to keep the family and the Stella Maris School in their thoughts and prayers. We’ll have more information in our subsequent newscast.

How will LIU Continue Its Work in Lake-I?

Let’s revisit our top story: the tragic death of Brandon Baptist on Friday night has once again put the spotlight on the Leadership Intervention Unit (L.I.U.). The L.I.U. has been doing crucial work with at-risk youths throughout Belize City, especially in Lake Independence. Earlier today, we had a chance to chat with Dominique Noralez, the Director of the L.I.U., about their approach to helping the youth in Lake-I.

Dominique Noralez, Director, Leadership Intervention Unit

“Our strategy, particularly in that area, is to remain in contact with the persons who are perceived and who have been labeled as gang members and gang affiliates. And so the employment program that we run in that area is of particular interest, but one of the things that I ensured that we did when I came onboard some one year ago, is to ensure that we roll out social programs as well, or direct our clients to social programs because we can’t do all of that. If you are to look at that particular initiative, how do you gauge or measure the efficacy of it? While there is the financial component where you’re paying for these young men, and perhaps women, to be meaningfully engaged, how do you look at the overall effectiveness of it? I think, for us, many a times people come to us. In fact, we just finished our data collection process with our new cohort. This is the fourth cohort that we have and many of our clients have dropped out of school in high school, some of them have not even been to high school, they stopped at Standard Six. There’s a cultural confidence things as well because some people think that they’re not good enough to re-enter into the formal education system or even good enough to apply for a job that I’m pretty sure they can learn on the job. And so we are trying to do a better job at monitoring and evaluating our people after they… leave the program.”

How does LIU Engage with Warring Gangs?

Noralez explained that working with inner-city youths involved in gang activity isn’t straightforward, it takes a lot of negotiation and compromise to make progress.

Dominique Noralez, Leadership Intervention Unit

“In any issue that you have with another individual there has to be some coming to the table or there will be no understanding of a path being charted forward to relieve yourselves of whatever personal issue we may have. But also they can now be called generational trauma that these groups have faced. These people walk by, live by, went to school up to whatever point they went to school with persons who might have hurt members of their family and they have done the same. There has to be some compromise and some voluntary coming to the table. It cannot be solved without coming to the table, it’s just the fact. And it cannot be solved without the social protection system going to these persons because they will not, there’s a distrust of the system in some ways which is in many ways justifiable. And so there has to be a going to individuals. People look at it as us cuddling criminals, as they have called them, but these are persons who deserve opportunities as well, and they deserve to be seen, they deserve to be given an opportunity. When that opportunity presents itself they have to have the tools to be able to take advantage of it.”

P.S.U Prez Says Fire Fighters Want Better Pay, Resources

On Friday, Belize City firefighters launched a go-slow protest over changes to their work schedule, which they say impacts their salaries. They’re also unhappy with their working conditions and the limited resources they must work with. This protest comes on the heels of recent corruption allegations involving some top officials. Today, some firefighters met with Dean Flowers, President of the Public Service Union. Afterward, Flowers had a meeting with Kennedy Carillo, the C.E.O. in the Ministry of Disaster Risk Management, and other ministry representatives. Flowers shared the details of their discussions with us.

Dean Flowers, President, Public Service Union

“ They are primarily administrative matters. I think there is a great need for the ministry. to really examine the quality of leadership that currently exists within the Fire Department. I think that a lot of the problems that the firefighters ventilated this morning stem from poor leadership, poor administrative leadership. To get into a few of the matters that were discussed. I know one of the pressing matters that was aired on the news Last week was the issue of the cutting of overtime. And I want to state that whilst, yes, they were disgruntled and are disgruntled with the manner in which the new policy was effected, I want to state that it is not as simple as they want to be paid overtime. The issue here is that these officers are severely underpaid and underappreciated. And so, the matter of compensation for the work that they’re doing, the additional services that they’re providing in terms of the ambulance services, um, there were arrangements, internal arrangements made in terms of how that additional work would be compensated and so this new policy would have affected that arrangement and thus they felt that they would have been compensated – they’re not properly compensated for the work that they do. But in addition to that, what was highlighted today is that there are several allowances that several firefighters are being denied. We don’t know why there are officers who are receiving a danger allowance. Some are receiving a hazardous allowance. Others are receiving no allowance. We went through the compendium today and we identified at least five allowances that we believe are due to firefighters. And so that is one of the matters that we will be addressing with the Ministry of Public Service as well as this ministry here.”

Minister Explains Regularization of Firefighters’ Work Schedules

Minister of Disaster Risk Management, Andre Perez, told News Five that the firefighters’ work schedules were adjusted to regular hours because the budget is nearly exhausted as the fiscal year ends. He assured that anyone working overtime will still get paid. Perez also addressed the corruption allegations at the top of the Fire Department, promising an investigation but emphasizing that solid evidence is needed to back up those claims.

Andre Perez, Minister of Disaster Risk Management

“As a fiscally prudent government we have take heed. We are short of funds and we’re getting to the end of the fiscal year. Sometimes we have to do a little bit of belt-tightening and of course it’s where some of the firefighters are saying, listen, are we not getting any overtime or we’re not giving the opportunity, many other factors, but the first thing I also want to share is that the intake of twenty-four new firefighters, which they have either been volunteers or temporary. Now they are permanent, or they’re fully on board, also is making the provision for another fifty-six firefighters, that’s a new intake. So as we prepare for the following year, we have to make conditions to prepare and that means that everybody will become more efficient. And certainly, we look forward ahead. The end game is to cut that overtime. making sure everybody gets their hours done, and of course, whenever overtime is needed or called for. it will be included. The work that the running of the fire department entails is that we have to have an administrative assistant. That is what we have provided previously, an F.O that is assisting. And in there, we’ve seen that the increments and salary promotions, salary increases that we need to looked at. It has been sitting on a desk whereby it’s been slow to come. So we are saying that in the last ten months, we have been seeing that more and more is being addressed. In terms of the word corruption, there’s always allegations of that, but it would need to be corroborated. But what we’re saying at that meeting, it was listened to, we discussed. I said if you bring forth the evidence if there is rampant corruption, then of course as a minister of this ministry, we will not tolerate these kinds of things occurring. We acknowledge it, that’s certainly, if there is what they are saying, we will do the investigation, but you need to bring proof because it’s only an allegation.”

ComPol Chastises Jules Over Comments Aired on Morning Show

Last year, Inspector Christopher Martinez admitted to wounding a businessman with a padlock while the man was in police custody. After a long legal battle, Martinez received a five-month sentence, which the High Court upheld. Once he was released, Martinez returned to his role as a Senior Inspector. During a morning talk show, Channel Seven News Director Jules Vasquez suggested that Williams didn’t fire Martinez because they’re cousins. Williams quickly shot down this claim, clarifying that he doesn’t have the power to dismiss senior officers.

Reporter

“I understand your relative, Inspector Martinez is back on active duty.”

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“And I hear you spewing nonsense this morning.”

Reporter

“Please, correct me.”

Chester Williams

“The commissioner is not the one who dismiss senior officers. That is done by the Security Services Commission.”

Reporter

“Fair.”

Chester Williams

“So please stop spewing nonsense and feed the people with spoiled food.”

Reporter

”Sir, so Inspector Martinez is back. You have no power to dismiss him to demote him. But you did recommend him for a promotion?”

Chester Williams

“Where you get that from again? When you brought up that spoiled food that you were fed with that, cause your bowel to move in certain places, I had said to you then that because he was not yet convicted. Every senior officer who met the criteria to go before the board and applied were allowed to go before the promotion board. I had also in a subsequent interview told you that he had failed the board. So how you reach at me recommending him for promotion.”