Man Dies in Hit-and-Run, Family Demands Justice

Tonight, there’s heartbreak and outrage in Bullet Tree. A family is demanding justice after a deadly hit-and-run claimed the life of thirty-one-year-old Mark Magaña Bul. It happened just after one this morning on Bullet Tree Road. Bul, a father of three, was walking home from work when an SUV slammed into him. The driver, identified as Julio Valdez, never stopped to help. Two travelers later found Bul still alive and tried to save him, but sadly, he didn’t make it. Friends and family say Bul was a hardworking man who always provided for his loved ones. His mother, Martha Magaña Bul, shared with us the gut-wrenching moment she got the call no parent ever wants to receive.

 

On the Phone: Martha Magaña Bul, Mother of Deceased

“I asked him and I said, can you please tell me if it’s serious or what happening? He said, yes, mami, it is very serious. Can you please tell me more? He said, I can’t. He said, but we’ll go look for your husband right now. He said, because we are at the San Ignacio hospital. And my husband got there. He was already in the front of the mobile ready to take him out to Belmopan, but accordingly, there was no space. So they took him to Belize City and there’s where his buddy’s laying now in the morgue. My son was a hardworking person, ma’am. Anywhere he can get a job, he would never refuse. When he had his kids, he got even more serious, because then  he had a responsibility now and he was always outgoing. He would never refuse when they would call him to do a job. What I understood that, they called him to do an extra little hour of job, so he didn’t refuse. So I guess that after that hour of work at that job, he was going home to Bullet tree because he lived in Bullet Tree Village. I need justice, ma’am. That’s all my plea. I need justice because sixteen years ago I lost my son in an accident. I didn’t get nothing for that loss of life and now, another one the same way, ma’am. I really need justice. We need to get here with these reckless drivers.”