Police Charge 24-Year-Old for PG Shooting, Motive Established

Crimes Investigation Branch personnel of the Punta Gorda police formation have formally charged 24-year-old Derry Bennett with two counts of attempted murder in connection with the shooting of Ashton Martin and Kelly Stevens on November 17, 2025.

According to ASP Stacy Smith of the Belize Police Department, “Investigators have so far established that approximately 11:30 PM on the aforementioned date, 25-year-old Kelly Stevens and 41-year-old Martin were at an establishment on George Price Street in Punta Gorda Town when a male person entered that establishment and fired several shots at them, which resulted in their injury.”

During the investigation, police reviewed multiple surveillance videos, which proved to be of evidential value. Bennett, who had been identified as a person of interest, was initially detained shortly after the incident. “At that time of his detention, he gave police a false name,” said ASP Smith. “He was charged with mischievous act and was subsequently released, as at that time sufficient information was not there to lay a charge against him.”

As investigators continued their work, they gathered the necessary evidence to issue charges and a wanted person poster. When attempts to locate Bennett in Punta Gorda proved unsuccessful, officers in the Western region apprehended him in Camalota Village and handed him over to Punta Gorda investigators, where he was charged with attempted murder.

Regarding the motive, ASP Smith stated, “The motive that we are suspecting to have caused this incident is drug related. As a matter of fact, as a part of police investigation into that incident, an operation was launched by the GI3 personnel in their continued efforts to stem the illicit trafficking of drugs in that area.”

The operation included searches at a residence on Queen Street and an unoccupied property. During the course of the search, police recovered “a nine millimeter pistol, two nine millimeter magazines, one of which is an extended magazine, 31 live rounds of nine millimeter ammunition and approximately 60 grams of crack cocaine separated in just under 300 small parcels.”

“The firearm, believed to have been used in the shooting of Martin and Stevens, was packaged and submitted to the National Forensic Science Services Laboratory for them to conduct testing to determine whether it was in fact used in that incident,” ASP Smith added.