BDF Musician Fatally Stabbed in Belize City
Tonight, there’s a deep sense of shock within the Belize Defense Force and among the family of one of its young soldiers. Twenty-nine-year-old Raheed Flowers, a full-time musician with the BDF Band, was killed during a stabbing incident in Belize City on Monday night. Police say Flowers was socializing at a home on Gladden Street when a dispute erupted between him and several men in the yard. That argument quickly escalated into a struggle, one that ended with Flowers fatally stabbed. Investigators are now working to piece together exactly what happened and who is responsible. News Five’s Britney Gordon has more on the deadly confrontation and the man at the center of it.
Britney Gordon, Reporting
While most Belizeans spent Monday enjoying the holiday, twenty-nine-year-old Raheed Flowers was doing what he loved, playing music with the Belize Defense Force Band. It was another day of service for the young soldier, surrounded by his bandmates and the work that defined him. By this morning, everything had changed. Flowers was dead, the victim of a fatal stabbing in Belize City. According to ACP Hilberto Romero, his night took a deadly turn after a fight broke out…
Hilberto Romero
ACP Hilberto Romero, Head, National Crime Investigation Branch
“On Monday, police responded to the report of a stabbing at Gladden Street in Belize City. Upon their arrival, they received information that a male person had been stabbed. He was identified as Raheem Flowers. a BDF soldier. Information is that Flowers was at the yard at Gladden Street when there was a fight and a male person inflicted stab to him. He was taken for treatment where he succumbed to his injuries.”
Flowers suffered multiple stab wounds and later died from his injuries. Police identified a suspect in the case, and that individual turned himself in earlier today. ACP Romero shares more about the man now in custody.
ACP Hilberto Romero
“Yes. Information is that they have been drinking.”
Reporter
“Is the suspect related to person?”
ACP Hilberto Romero
“They’re known to each other.”
Britney Gordon
“Is the suspect a resident of Gladden Street?”
ACP Hilberto Romero
“No. He’s from another area in the city.”
Flowers served in the Belize Defense Force Band as a bass trombone player since 2018. Major Kevin Campbell, the BDF’s Director of Music, says Flowers had a deep passion for music and often performed in his free time with the Belize Imperial Band.
Major Kevin Campbell
Major Kevin Campbell, Director of Music, Belize Defense Force
“What I admired about him the most, he had a memory. If you would look at the band and I like to tell people, you only need to go on YouTube now and just type in Belize Defense Force Band and it will pop up. You would see some of the musicians holding the music and actually reading it. He had the ability to look at the music, retain it, and I would be there waving away. Because that’s what, that’s my job. But he knew the music. He memorized it so well.”
Campbell describes Flowers as a man dedicated to his job and to serving the country. He noted that while Flowers was committed to his duties, he had for improvement with his attitude.
Major Kevin Campbell
“Last week I did his interview because I have to do personal interviews with all my soldiers and he sat before me and we spoke about attitude because the military band’s motto is military attitude and musical skill. So it doesn’t matter how upset you get in this uniform, you’ve got to be able to compose yourself. And he said to me, and I recorded it, he said, I’m working on it. And he signed up to go to 2031 Imagine. And so he definitely knew what his challenges were and made an effort to control them.”
After the stabbing, questions surfaced about whether Flowers’ killing was planned. ACP Romero says police are still investigating and cannot yet determine the motive.
ACP Hilberto Romero
“We do not have a lot information at this time. That is all we have. That they were in a fight and he received the stab wounds.”
Flowers’ death weighs heavily on the Belize Defense Force as less than twenty men officially make up the band. Campbell says his absence will be felt.
Major Kevin Campbell
“I must bring the sympathies of the Minister of Defense, honorable Florencio Marin, and the Chief Executive Officer major Francis Usher. Of course, the commander of the Belize Defense Force, major Anthony Velasquez, the officers and close to home, the entire band. We want to convey, use this platform to send our sympathies and of course our prayers. So he had a family, his mother that is abroad, his children, he had children, and those persons that are grieving, those persons that were there early this morning with me at the hospital who are grieving this sudden loss, it’s a sudden loss. And for certain we need to pause and remember them. And of course, services is given to his country as a military musician.”
The Belize Defense Force is now standing close beside Raheed Flowers’ family as they prepare to lay him to rest. Britney Gordon 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.
Facebook Comments