A Hit Carried out on a Business Owner on John Smith Link Road
We begin tonight’s newscast with the execution of a popular businessman from the Eight Miles community on the George Price Highway. He was on his routine morning walk along the John Smith Link Road heading home when he was shot to the back of the head. Who would have wanted Zihui He dead and why is uncertain at this time, but it is believed that the killer had knowledge of his victim’s daily routine. News Five’s Duane Moody has this story.
Duane Moody, Reporting
He’s the proprietor of Jacky’s Bakery located on the George Price Highway in the Eight Miles Community and has been living in the village for over a decade. But this morning, fifty-two-year-old Zihui He was shot once to the back of the head on the John Smith Link Road within a short distance from his house.
ASP Fitzroy Yearwood, Communications Director, Belize Police Department
ASP Fitzroy Yearwood
“The Eight Miles Police responded to a scene about a mile in on the John Smith Highway when leaving from the George Price Highway going towards the village of Ladyville where they saw fifty-two-year-old Chinese Belizean businessman Zihui He suffering from an apparent gunshot wound. Upon arrival, police realised that he was motionless. The scene was processed and he was transported to the K.H.M.H. where he was pronounced dead sometime around ten o’clock.”
He was murdered as he was engaged in his early morning walk on the John Smith Link Road. News Five understands from close friends that he had recovered from a stroke and began this routine as a form of exercise when he was executed. We spoke off-camera with an employee who had a close relationship with He.
Voice of: Employee, Jacky’s Bakery
“I’ve been working more than ten years and to me he was a good boss; a good brother, like a father to me and everything. I was out here, come to the shop to buy and someone meet me and said they heard my boss get killed. So I never believe it at first until I ride there and see it on my own.”
Duane Moody
“Talk to us about what you saw when you got there.”
Voice of: Employee
“I just saw him on the ground, face down and right away my emotion just come out cause I never expect something like that.”
Police are canvassing the area for information as to what triggered the execution because He had no personal effects on him at the time, so he could not have been robbed and the attack was deliberate.
ASP Fitzroy Yearwood
“When you go walking, you of course wouldn’t be taking any excess weight on your, especially with the type of apparel that you would use when you are exercising. So we have ruled out robbery and like you clearly stated, we are trying to establish the motive. So for us to move forward, it would want to lean towards what people on the streets would refer to as a hired kill.”
Now, the deceased is not to be confused with his brother, who owns Jacky’s Fast Food Restaurant and Store in the Sunset Park area of the Eight Miles Community. Earlier this year, a robber was killed by the proprietor during a heist gone wrong. Communications Director, Assistant Superintendent Fitzroy Yearwood says that anybody with information should come forward and make a report.
ASP Fitzroy Yearwood
“I am hoping that they relay that to the police out there this morning and maybe even before this morning and if they haven’t, I would appreciate if they would come forward and share this information with us at the police department. Maybe this would be a critical lead towards solving this crime or for us to discourage these types of elements from entering or re-entering that area.”
Duane Moody for News Five.
