ComPol Confirms Luis Marin was a Suspect in Belmopan Shooting

Commissioner of Police Chester Williams has confirmed that twenty-four-year-old Luis Marin, who was murdered on Tuesday night, was a suspect in a weekend shooting in Belmopan. On Saturday, a video showing three men running from a car while shots were fired at them went viral on social media. In that attack, twenty-three-year-old Jamal Hyde was injured by gunfire. Less than a week later, Marin was found dead in his home in Belize City. Today, Commissioner Williams confirmed Marin’s involvement in the shooting and announced that police have a suspect in custody for his murder.

 

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

 ”We are looking at that issue in Belmopan in the aftermath of that shooting, there was a lot that we did to try and avert any possible retaliation, particularly in the Belmopan, Cotton Tree and Roaring Creek area. Unfortunately we see where it happened, the retaliation took place in Belize  City in an area where we did not anticipate it to have occurred. Nonetheless, the police remain extremely vigilan. And in these areas of concern, we always do our best to try and avert these things from occurring, but sometimes the retaliations would happen outside of where the police would’ve normally expected it to occur. So, I’m happy to say that the police have made great strides in the murder investigation now, where the guy was killed, that’s Luis Marine was killed in the Majestic Alley area. The suspect for that matter is in custody and he should be charged today and should be appearing in court sometime this afternoon.”

 

Reporter

“And so it is retaliation? That’s the belief?”

 

Chester Williams

“Yes, we certainly believe that it has to do with the shooting in Belmopan and it’s a retaliation in respect of that shooting.”

 

Reporter

“Some people commented that the gunman found the guy before police. You guys wanted him but no wanted poster was put out.”

 

Chester Williams

“The police had  been in search for him, certainly, and his name  was circulated internally, um, that he was wanted by the police. And again, we could not have put out a wanted poster because the circumstances under which the incident occurred. When he were to be found, we would have to do an identification period. And so once we’re going to have to do identification period  in a matter, it is not legally practicable for us to  circulate, wanted poster of that person because at trial, the attorneys can say that the only reason the witness identified the person was because the person picture was in a wanted post prior to  them conducting identification parole. So again, it’s a legal safeguard that is in place to protect, protect the rights of accused persons. So we could not have done that. And again, you, you would know, that the public, is the one who normally provides the police information. There are more people out there in society who are not police officers than police, so the public will know more than us, and that’s the reason why we always emphasize that ninety-nine point nine percent  of police work is based on information received from the public. And we always welcome those informations,”