Masked Gunmen Kill Church Leader in Cayo

Santiago Rajo, a known church leader at the local Seventh-day Adventist church in Teakettle Village, Cayo, was fatally shot after trying to help his brother, Tomás Rajo, and his wife during what they described as a violent robbery. According to Tomás, three masked men armed with a gun attacked his family around 1:30 AM. The men reportedly demanded items of value. “They were asking for belongings and money, cell phones, and things of value. All of them were all speaking English,” Tomás told News 5.

He added that his son responded in English and told the men that the family had nothing of value that they were looking for. Tomás said that the men then pointed the gun away from him and at his son’s forehead. “My son continued telling them that we didn’t have anything of value to give him,” he said, adding that this led him to react, which led to him exchanging blows with one of the attackers.

Tomás reported that after the robbers gathered his family’s belongings, taking with them a motorcycle he had on one side. He said the men left the scene on foot because they couldn’t start the motorcycle.

The robbers reportedly returned, now riding the motorcycle, while Tomás had gone to another part of the village to see if he could spot them.

“When this tragedy happened, I was on one side of the village, and my brother came out here towards the back of the house where there was a street and where they passed on their way back and were already coming on the motorcycle,” Tomás said. “It was there where they shot him with that 9mm that they had threatened me with in the house.”

Santiago, a respected and hard-working member of the community, is deeply mourned by his family and neighbours. The family is now calling for justice and urging authorities to address the escalating crime. Residents are seeking an increase of police presence in the area.

Santiago’s wife, Rosa Rajo, told News 5, “So many people has been attacked by these robbers, and nothing has been done.”