Mark Shepherd Murdered in Front of Pregnant Wife
Mark Shepherd
It is almost six months into the year, and the murder count continues to grow. The Belize District continues to be plagued by the most violent crimes. This past weekend, two other persons were murdered. In the south, another person was chopped to death. There was further loss of life due to drowning and a traffic fatality. We start with the extensive crime blotter. In Hattieville, the execution of a resident has stunned the police and community. On Saturday night, twenty-three year old Mark Shepherd was targeted and shot in front of his pregnant common-law-wife while both were at the Iguana Lounge. News Five’s Duane Moody reports.
Duane Moody, Reporting
Twenty-three year old Mark Shepherd was sitting outside Iguana Lounge, a popular club in Hattieville when two gunmen walked on to the compound and opened fire on him from behind. He had just got off the steps to light a cigarette when he was shot twice to the back, puncturing his lungs.
ACP Edward Broaster, Regional Commander, Rural Eastern Division
“At about 11:55 p.m., Hattieville police visited the K.H.M.H. where they saw the lifeless body of one Mark Shepherd and what appeared to be gunshot wounds to his right back; two gunshot wounds. Later investigation revealed that Mark Shepherd along with his common-law was sitting in front of the Iguana Lounge in Hattieville when two male persons, one dressed in a hood with what appeared to be a firearm, fired the shots that fatally claimed the life of Mark Shepherd.”
Marky or Shubble, as he was affectionately known, came home from work earlier that day and decided to go out to the club with his common-law-wife Judith, who is three-months pregnant with his first child.
Marie Shepherd
Marie Shepherd, Grandmother of Murder Victim
“He come home from work, eat ih food and everything and ih woulda sit down ina di chair, play with dehn pickney and give lee joke because ih dah wah friendly person; ih dah noh wah person weh deal with the law or nothing. Ih say granny, I think I gwen out, me and Judith yo know. We gwen take wah lee walk back dah di club. I say well dah weh you want, but be careful cause you know how the village get now. The village dah noh like before weh yo could walk anytime and noh fraid. And nowadays yon oh know who dah who. So ih say I noh wah take long. I gwen out and take wah lee beer and come back.”
But he never did and that was the last time Marie saw her grandson. Despite being shot, Shepherd ran for help about a block away but collapsed into a drain filled with water. His common-law-wife, whom he was with at the time of the shooting, came screaming for him. With the assistance of a resident in the area, Shepherd was rushed to the K.H.M.H., but died within minutes.
Marie Shepherd
“I say Junior get up, dehn shot Marky back ah di club. Well I never feel bad right away because dah one shot and the young man weh ker ahn say ih alright but ih noh di talk. I ask she who ker ahn down, but she say I noh know the young man, but ih help take ahn out of the drain. She say when she and Marky was at the club, she get wah coke and Marky get wah beer, but ih never even get fi finish drink ih beer. She gone use the bathroom and Marky say ih take long so he come out fi see why she mi di take long. So when ih come out, dehn sit down on the step and he get up fi light the cigarette and his back mi turn and the gunman see that and dah wah close shot. She say ih gone up close and shot ahn, but she hide fi make the gunman noh see she.”
Police say a motive for the homicide is unknown, and his family is just as perplexed and question whether it was a case of “if I can’t ketch Harry, I ketch ih shirt.”
Edward Broaster
ACP Edward Broaster
“That investigation is ongoing at this time. We don’t have any motive for that shooting in Hattieville. Mark Shepherd, he is a laborer; he does work off and on and around Hattieville area.”
Duane Moody
“I know you guys don’t like to look at the past of these persons, but is there anything that would make any connections, or leads?”
ACP Edward Broaster
“As far as we know, no.”
Marie Shepherd
“I noh feel like dah wah mistake. If dah wah mistake, why you wah fire so much shot to wah person. So why yow ah do it? Well ih got other bredda weh have problem and ih could only be maybe revenge. If I can’t ketch yo, I wah ketch harry. It could only be something like that because he noh got enemy. Ih just di have ih first baby, soh ih noh even wah see ahn. Yo can’t even get she fi eat right now. When the child grow up, ih noh even wah know ih father cause dehn just take ih life right so and that noh fair. Why dehn wah tek Shubble life? Why dehn wah hurt ahn cause he noh give nobody no problem.”
A sad reality and another family is grieving in the wake of yet another murder. Duane Moody for News Five.
No one has been detained for this murder.
Just imagine, a society and a country as small as Belize , which is basically dependent upon tourism and customs tariffs and the crime is out of control and rampant. We have not seen anything as yet, Belize is about to experience a serious debt crisis. Dean will be long gone with the millions he and is family have hustled and won’t give a damn. They justify their corruption by saying PUP did it also. There are no checks and balances in that country and everyone has their hands out, especially the government offices. I saw a post on Facebook this morning about three “so-called car dealers.” That’s another story and the dishonest practices of 80% of the car dealers have given the few honest ones a bad name. Social media has its pros and cons and I guess this is one of the pros. My family has had bad experiences dealing with a couple of them. Word around here in NYC is that there’s one in Houston who hasn’t been to Belize in a few years because he’s hustled his family down South, a couple of Indians, including K-Park, other car dealers and even Belizeans here in the US. It was thought that his family didn’t know but that has been changed because it seems as if the wife who works at a certain bank is as complicit as he is because they try to portray a lifestyle that isn’t so and give people and their kids a false impression. They do stuff like this to people and don’t realize the repercussions. A few who know him said he had a good thing going with what we know as “Cayo Cargo” and hustled them. He’s used people’s money to buy vehicles that have never reached or buy a vehicle and sell to someone else. The kicker part of it of what’s stink here in the Big Apple is that supposedly there was a bogus divorce signed by someone (already in trouble with US because of other wrong doings) and he got married to someone in the US to obtain a Green Card. Uncle Sam might have a surprise waiting on him. Bottom line is that the Belizean society has gone to the dogs and there’s no morals nor scruples.
So sad, but this is how life is Belize is. People stay away from gangs and trouble so the rest of the family that is innocent won’t suffer.
yet the Belizeans continue to give the devils power. All my life my family grew up as UDP, thank God for education and common sense, I woke up and know that those people are all for themselves and don’t give a damn about my Belizeans. They are all for themselves as they line their pockets, including their families, while the rest of the country goes hungry. I don’t know when my people will wake up and say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.