Another Hyde Executed In Cayo Double Murder

A weekend shooting in Santa Elena has become a double murder investigation, deepening the grief for a Cayo family already familiar with tragedy. Thirty-five-year-old Rasheed Hyde was killed on George Price Avenue on Saturday afternoon, while thirty-six-year-old mechanic Gil Pineda succumbed to his injuries the following day. Tonight, police are working to determine what triggered the deadly gunfire and who is responsible for taking two lives. Shane Williams reports from Santa Elena.

 

Shane Williams, Reporting

“Cayo Police are investigating the double murders of thirty-five-year-old Rashid Hyde and his good friend thirty-six-year-old Gil Pineda, better known as Flaco. Both Hyde and Pineda were socializing right here in this area where Pineda works as a mechanic when they were ambushed and fired upon. Both men received multiple gunshot injuries and were rushed to the Western Regional Hospital. Unfortunately, Hyde was pronounced dead on arrival. Pineda was transferred to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital for further treatment but succumbed to his injuries.”

 

ASP Stacy Smith, Staff Officer

“Police have detained two male persons and impounded a vehicle of interest as a part of the ongoing investigation into the murder of thirty-five-year-old Rasheed Hyde of Georgeville Village Cayo District and thirty-six-year-old Gil Pineda of Dangriga. What has been gathered so far in the course of this ongoing investigation is that both Hyde and Pineda were in front of a residence when they were fired upon by individual on board a Nissan Rogue.”

 

Hyde’s killing has plunged a family already scarred by tragedy into mourning once again. For his aunt, Andrea Westby, who raised him as her own, their final encounter has become a haunting memory, because she believes his killers may have already been lurking nearby.

 

Andrea Westby, Aunt of Deceased

We mi inna town  now and just a routine, wash your vehicle. And I meet ah da the car wash and we talk. We stand up there and talk while the vehicle the wash. I left him about 11 o’clock. He said, “Well, Auntie, I’ll see you.” Ih say, “As I reach da village ah wa coh hail yo.” And he gone ih way and we coh home. And not even an hour after when the call come in now that he supposedly get shot but they just say shot, you know, like, okay, he get shot. He de da the hospital. Okay, well we gwen da the hospital. Never the expect that, you know, ih mi wa pass away.”

 

Those who knew Hyde say his life had not always followed a straight path. In 2017, he was charged with the attempted murder of his cousin, Russell Hyde Jr. He was later cleared of that charge. But family members say there was much more to that incident than what made it into the headlines and, they say, Rasheed eventually made a conscious decision to change his life.

 

Andrea Westby

“He did some stuff. Ah mean, da noh no secret. Everybody know, even with his passing, the first thing some in the news media they post that, “Oh, ih mi get charged before for a shooting with one ah ih cousin.” But every story have two side, no? But we no shun from that. We know Rasheed and we know that as you hear Hyde, automatically you da the bad one. As you hear Hyde, yes da soh and that da how your name get tarnished. I, me misself, as somebody ask me, “Miss you the Hyde?” I say, “I da one of the good one.” Because you done know that da that’s why they the ask you. Because they know you da Hyde, you know? So it rough. We born as that we can’t change that. We can’t change who da we people. But da we noh fi try change whatever we grow up inna fi live right and live a honest life.”

 

He married his high school sweetheart three years ago. In recent years, Hyde had traded the streets for a quieter life on his farm, raising pigs and working to support his wife and children. He was also counting down to the September twenty-first parade, when he planned to ride on horseback alongside his children. It was a family moment he looked forward to, but one he will never get to share. Pineda was Hyde’s mechanic, servicing the taxis he rented out. Hyde was reportedly picking up repair parts on Saturday when gunmen targeted them at the mechanic shop. Mayor Earl Trapp says the double murder is another painful sign of the violence gripping the community.

 

Earl Trapp, Mayor, San Ignacio And Santa Elena

“It was about five to six weeks ago that we had another murder in Santa Elena by Santa Cruz. And then three weeks to four weeks later, then there was another shooting on Bullet Tree Road and Collins Boulevard. And now unfortunately we had this shooting in Santa Elena again in broad daylight. It is very much concerning.”

 

Police have not yet determined what triggered the deadly ambush, but investigators are pursuing several theories. They believe Pineda, who was not from Cayo, may have simply been caught in the attack. Police have since stepped up operations across the area to prevent any further violence. Shane Williams for News Five.

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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