In the small yard of a modest home on Cedar Street, two lives were extinguished, quietly, mercilessly, and with a cruelty that reflects a chilling truth: in today’s Belize, even the defenceless are not spared.
The victims were 64-year-old Evadnie Jones and her son Luke Jones, who lived with a disability that confined him to a wheelchair. Their bodies were found nearly 20 hours after neighbours first reported hearing gunshots on Friday night. For much of that time, they lay just beyond their gate, in the same neighbourhood where bullets are more common than justice.
Hours before the shooting, Patrick Jones, a known member of the Taylor’s Alley gang, had gone live on TikTok from the United States, boasting about his survival and taunting his rivals. That video may have lit the fuse. Hours later, his mother and brother were dead.
In the past eight months, three wheelchair-bound men have been executed. First, it was 17-year-old Trayson Gibson, paralysed since age 15, gunned down while on Banak Street. Then, Gion Bernard, known as “Gizmo,” was killed on Castle Street. He was shot in the head. And over the weekend, Luke Jones.
Opposition Leader Tracy Panton called the Jones murders “a sign of deepening lawlessness” and urged the government to act decisively. UDP Leader Shyne Barrow went further, saying, “There are people who must be permanently removed from our streets, not just for justice, but for the protection of society.” He called for strong legislation and police empowerment, even citing controversial strategies used in El Salvador to crush gang influence.