More Details of Young Doctor Murdered in Belmopan

A doctor was shot and killed in Belmopan this morning while driving his young daughter to school in a brazen daylight attack that unfolded in front of multiple witnesses across from the Las Flores Park.

The victim has been identified as Dr Naun Bonilla, an internist at the Belmopan Medical Imaging Center who specialised in diabetes, high blood pressure, and internal medicine.

The shooting occurred shortly after 8:30 a.m. According to eye-witnesses, Dr Bonilla was behind the wheel of a white SUV when a second white vehicle pulled up alongside him. A masked, armed man exited and opened fire, discharging more than ten shots. His daughter, seated in the back seat, was unharmed. 

The SUV veered off the road into nearby bushes following the shooting. Scene of crime investigators and police had to process the vehicle at that location before removing the body.

Belmopan City Council workers were carrying out maintenance work in the park at the time of the shooting, leaving several eyewitnesses in the immediate area. One worker reported helping to remove the child from the back seat of the vehicle in the aftermath of the attack.

Notably, Belmopan falls outside the boundaries of the current State of Emergency(SOE), which has been in effect in other parts of the country. The killing has renewed questions online about the reach and effectiveness of that measure, with one social media user writing that the SOE “seems to be having little to no effect on the bloodletting.”

The response online was otherwise dominated by grief. Dr Bonilla was widely regarded in the community, with one user writing, “He was the best doctor in Belmopan. RIP Doctor Bonilla,” and another describing him as someone who “dedicated his life to helping and caring for others.” Others expressed despair at the broader picture. “Belize has a serious problem and can’t seem to figure out how to address the murders,” one commenter wrote.

A further comment read, “Such a young doctor, why take someone with such a great future… someone that saves lives.”

News 5 will continue to follow this story.