Mother Pleads for Peace as Teen Battles Injuries After Triple Shooting

Tonight, a mother in Lake Independence is pleading for peace after a Tuesday night shooting left three people injured. Among the victims, two seventeen-year-old boys and a sixty-year-old woman. Two have been released from the hospital, but one teen is still fighting to recover. His mother, Joyce Martinez, says the family is living in fear, not just because of the gunman, but because of what’s happening now. She claims police have been showing up at her home every day, searching the property and even warning them not to record. Martinez wants the focus shifted away from her family and toward finding the person who pulled the trigger. News Five’s Britney Gordon has the story.

 

Britney Gordon, Reporting

On Tuesday night, residents of the Lake Independence area in Belize city were left shaken after three people were shot on M and J Street. One victim, sixty-year-old Julia Vialto, was on her way to church when she was shot in the heel. Recovering at home, Vialto says she’s thankful to be alive, but admits the rising crime in her neighborhood still leaves her on edge. The two other victims are seventeen-year-old males, one of whom is still receiving treatment at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. His mother, Joyce Martinez, says her son had left home to play basketball on the night that he was shot.

 

Voice of: Joyce Martinez, Mother of Shooting Victim

“When I hear the shooting now, I gran my phone and I call he first but he noh di ansa so I call my daughter ney and I seh unu hear wa shooting> So ney she yes ma and ney she somebody deh pan do ground so I call my baby again. And I di call he and I di call he and I di look fi my slippas because the gunshot ney noh seem far,  So I get my slippas and I jist run out deh inna whatever I mu git, I just run.”

 

Martinez says she raced to the hospital as soon as she heard her son was admitted, but claims police blocked her from seeing him.

 

Voice of: Joyce Martinez

“When we reach the hospital, wa pile of police done deh ya already and I ask fi mek I fo in. Ney di go on a way. Ney noh wa mek I go in go see my son weh just get shot. Then one ah ney gone fi baton, I noh know if he mi want whop up me. I start go on rash now because I need fi know weh di go on inside there.  And ney she if I noh f****ing shet up, dey wa know weh happen to me. After that I calm down because I need fo concentrate pan my baby than they.”

 

She further alleges that police have been raiding her family’s home for months and have increased their visits following her son’s shooting.

 

Voice of: Joyce Martinez

“They slam the gate although she tell ney that she wa open di gate. Ney seh ney come do wa search. Every time unu come do wa search ynu ransack up the house and noh wa do weh you have to do and then da noh wa search ney come do you know. Every shooting happen, noh matter weh part of the district, ney come da my house, I sick and tired of the police ney.”

 

Officers reportedly ordered Martinez and her children out of the room during the search and warned them not to record what was happening.

 

Voice of: Joyce Martinez

“My son get shot now, six troppers come this morning. And ney gone on rash miss, ney gone on rash, ney turn ova the whole three house ina di yard. And do one when got on the mask weh inna wa blue shirt wa tell we shut the f*** up or all ah we going da station. So I tell ney hpw unu wa tell me shut up and unu just come ya? Memba this da my house you know. Unu come with manners and unu wa get respect. Breda this da my yard, I need for know weh unu di do inna my yard. Suppose if anything, unu put thing inna di yard. Suppose of unu come back and fimd thing inna di yard, that cya be pan we because unu inna the yard.”

 

Martinez says no officers have questioned her son in the hospital since the shooting, and she’s still asking why police keep visiting her home daily, especially when, according to her, nothing has ever been seized during those searches.

 

Voice of: Joyce Martinez

“Ney neva find nothing da my house, Neva, neva yet. I cya ask police fi no help. The police ney da no help.”

While Martinez’s son is in stable condition, he is set to undergo multiple surgeries as part of his recovery. As of now, no arrest has been made in relation to the shooting. Britney Gordon for News Five.