A Call Center Employee is Gunned down at Home

Septimus Ritchie

There was a senseless murder in Belize City last night, just off Mahogany Street.  A customer care worker was online and about to wrap up a shift when he was shot in the head inside his home. Someone snuck up on him and shot him through a window. It’s a callous attack on a hardworking man, and a motive is yet to be ascertained. News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports.

Isani Cayetano, Reporting

A call center employee, working from home, was shot and killed on Wednesday night shortly before his shift ended.  Thirty-five-year-old Septimus Ritchie, a resident of Electric Avenue, was on his computer carrying out his assignments when a gunman walked up this short flight of stairs, shoved his arm through an open window and fired a single shot.

ASP Fitzroy Yearwood

ASP Fitzroy Yearwood, Communications Director, Belize Police Department

“This was a direct target, so the person that went to do this had to know that he was in that certain position at that time.  We believe that he knew his assailant and I know that investigators have canvassed the area and they have picked up some very useful information and hopefully we could make a detention and probably an arrest very soon in this latest murder.”

The deadly incident happened around 7:30 p.m.  Ritchie’s wife, we understand, had just asked her son to close the front door when a loud bang was heard.  When they went over to where he was to ask if he heard the noise, they reportedly found him bleeding from a gunshot wound to the head.

Fitzroy Yearwood

“Police went to Karl Heusner Memorial [Hospital] where they saw the lifeless body of Septimus Ritchie, thirty-five-year-old customer care worker.  Their initial investigation revealed that he was at home working on his computer on Electric Avenue when someone approached the window and fired a single shot that caught him to the head.  His body was transported [to the Belize City morgue] where it awaits a post mortem examination.”

From all accounts, Ritchie never bothered anyone. Neighbors describe him as someone who kept to himself and his family. Why someone would want him dead is anyone’s guess.

Fitzroy Yearwood

“Like I said, it would appear that it was direct, so hopefully the motive wouldn’t be farfetched for too long to find out.”

Reporter

“Was Mr. Ritchie in any altercations recently, to police knowledge?”

Fitzroy Yearwood

“Not to my knowledge.”

Police are now turning to surveillance footage that may have been captured on a nearby camera.  It is their hope that what was recorded around the time of the incident would be sufficient for them to break the case.

Septimus Ritchie

Fitzroy Yearwood

“Whenever these crimes take place, we don’t only review the official camera that we have in that zone, but we even canvass the area to see if other neighbors might have surveillance. Why?  Because of course, if we find anything we would want it to be retracted from the official technicians that can testify in the court in the event we need to give it as evidence. So usually, if they have any findings, they would indicate to me what their findings are. So yes, we do have people viewing the cameras.”

Isani Cayetano reporting for News Five.