A Shaken Mother Relives Daughters’ Terrifying Shooting

A mother was at work Sunday night when one phone call changed everything: both of her daughters, just eleven and fourteen, had been shot. Police say the girls were standing with a group outside their home on Arlington Drive when a gunman walked up and opened fire. Investigators believe someone else may have been the intended target, but for this mother, the motive matters far less than the devastating reality that both of her children were wounded. She recalls the frantic call and what she found when she reached the hospital.

 

Voice of: Erica Valerio, Mother of Victim

“I was at work and they called me. I rushed to the hospital.”

 

Shane Williams

“What did they say?”

 

Erica Valerio

“They tell me, Erica, your baby just got shot in the face. Hurry go da hospital and I just hang up the phone and rushed out.”

 

Shane Williams

“What were you thinking when you heard that your child got shot in the face?”

 

Erica Valerio

“I think all kinds of things, sir. I think ih dead. I think ih critical. I think I wa hear bad news. I start just cry. I don’t know. I feel light, light, light, light, light.”

 

Shane Williams

“And when you got to the hospital?”

 

Erica Valerio

“When I got there, I got a little relieved because I see my baby kinda the talk to me and thing soh I get a lee relief. Ih just get a graze and ih skin the drop off ah ih face and I don’t know ah just get weak. My baby they was standing in front of the gate cause we usually outside sometimes we the stand up as a family and we just stand up and we talk.”

 

Shane Williams

“It’s a family yard?”

 

Erica Valerio

“Yes, sir, a family yard. Lone girls de in deh. And mussy three boys deh in de. And my little babies them. Nobody else. My two daughters deh get grazed – my two daughters. Two of them got grazed in their face. Only one got it bad. One got it in the shoulder and behind the foot. My baby they still the shake and still the say this person shot them, this person shot them. They noh believe.”

 

And there was another shooting in Belize City last night, involving Belizean artist Kenroy Linares, better known as Kenny Juice. While reports circulating on social media have linked the shooting to the area in front of Club Bizzo, the owners of the establishment wish to clarify that the shooting did not occur in front of Club Bizzo but up the street. The circumstances surrounding the shooting remain under investigation and we will bring you more information as it becomes available.

 

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.

 

Watch the full newscast here: