Mother Loses Second Son to Gun Violence

She buried one son in 2014, and twelve years later on Thursday night, she lost another.

29-year-old construction worker Jamal Samuels was shot dead outside #24 CET Site, Belize City. His mother, Helen Samuel, is still processing what may have led her to lose a second son to gun violence.

She told News 5 that police are not letting her see her son’s remains, as it is now a police investigation case.

By her account, Samuel had only stepped out to buy weed and was supposed to come straight back home.

“He not a person who hangs. He wa hang home by his house. He wa roll up the weed and sit down front ah di yard and smoke and drink,” Helen said. “I think he just was there at the wrong time because he no usually go out there.”

Samuel’s mother believes he may have stopped to see a friend he had not seen in a long time and ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time.

According to her, Samuel did not have any trouble with anyone. “I talked to him yesterday, and he no tell me nothing… He no got hard talk with nobody,” Helen added.

Her oldest son, Robert “Bolo” Tracy, was killed in 2014. She had also lost a 9-month-old son. Jamal was the oldest son still living. She now has three dead and one currently detained by police for pending investigation.