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Yesterday afternoon – hundreds of lives were put in mortal danger and two schoolchildren were shot when gunmen opened fire on Mahogany Street. It was an act of lawlessness so extreme that it has left the community reeling. Well tonight there is another almost incomprehensibly cruel crime to report: a 14 year old clubbed to death with a two by four, and left in an abandoned bus terminal. They are acts so abominable, even a writer of fiction would have a hard time coming up with the storylines. But they’re real – disturbingly so - here’s more on this one.

Jacqueline Godwin Reporting,
Belize City Police emerged from inside the abandoned bus terminal building on Magazine Road with the body of fourteen year old Dylan Ayuso at 9:00 am. Investigators believe the second form Wesley College student was struck over the head with a 6 foot long two by four that police found near the body. A post mortem conducted today on the teenager’s body revealed that not only was Dylan Ayuso choked but his skull was cracked in three places.

Modesto Madrill JP, Called by police to witness body
“And I saw a body on the floor with a pool of blood by his head and a piece of board beside it, apparently that was the board they used to kill him.”

But who would want to kill Dylan Ayuso? It is a question the police have yet to answer.

Brenda Armstrong, Principal - Wesley College
“It s heavy day. The very fact that one of our students has now become a victim of the violence, it is a terrible loss and this morning I was listening to WUB and I totally endorsed what the host of that show was saying in terms of the senselessness of the children being apart of the violent scene, not knowing that within hours I would have to be even closer in my involvement.”

Today the Wesley College flag was flown at half mast as principal Brenda Armstrong, the teachers and students tried to cope with the bad news that one of their own was murdered. According to principal Armstrong she does not know why Dylan Ayuso was killed but while he was popular and well liked. But he clearly had problems because he was frequently absent from school.

Brenda Armstrong,
“My first reaction was I thought I was being told that he had been found out of school and that as was the case on more than one occasion, he had just not come to school that morning because that is something we had been working with him on. In fact he recently signed a contract that he would not miss school again and from that date he had never been absent until today.

But he was in school yesterday, very much in school in fact, and he went home from school with his usual group of friends, doing the same things that they always did. We just had a session with those students and they were sharing with us, they walked through town, he is the lively one, the life of the group, the one that will find something funny to let everyone laugh. Even when he would be in trouble, I would have to be saying are you going to be serious about this because he always had that playful smiling countenance.”

But when Dylan Ayuso’s body was discovered around eight thirty this morning, it was not clad in his uniform so he was not on his way to school. In fact his brother who did not wish to appear on camera said his younger sibling had reportedly left home last night to buy chicken but he never returned.

Doile Ifield, Brother of Murder Victim
“We still nuh know what could have happened, who could have done something to my lil brother like that.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
“Do you believe he got caught up with the wrong crowd?”

Doile Ifield,
“More than likely yes. I always was talking to my little brother to stop hanging with certain people. I told him the club will always be there, go out will always be there, just stop the try live this fast life.”

Brenda Armstrong,
“He definitely was under a lot of pressure as would any teen be. Some of the pressure is to encourage him to do what is good and right and that is fine. We like that there are those who may say to us let’s not go there, let’s do this differently or so. But the reality of the times we live in is that there will also be those who may encourage him to do things that may not necessarily be the best for him and I would not be surprised if he too was not a victim of that kind of pressure. The fact that he tended to not stay home very often would then indicate that that might be true, encouragement to not stay home at least is one pressure he was under.”

Sources tell 7News that Dylan Ayuso may have been killed because of his close association with a rival gang in whose company he was often seen.

Brenda Armstrong,
“My gut instinct is that it is another young person who probably was involved in whatever took place that caused Dylan to lose his life and I would really hope and pray that as a society, all of us who are leaders in whatever way, whether we are parental leaders, extended family members, members of groups that work with the young, the media, that all of us need to do whatever we can to try to rescue the boys and the girls who have slipped through our hands. Those are the ones I worry about.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
“Do you believe it is someone who knew him that killed him?”

Doile Ifield,
“Yes of course.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
“Why?”

Doile Ifield,
“I don’t know, that is the thing. I don’t know cause I know I didn’t do nobody nothing.”

And as Dylan Ayuso's family tries to cope with the loss of their youngest member, Wesley College will do what it can to support them

Brenda Armstrong,
“But in our own way we are a family here too and so in our context, we will also be participating in the sense of laying to rest one of us. He is not maybe a brother biologically to us but we treat our students as all one family here and so whatever the decisions made by the family will be, we will also do our part. We will have our way of memorializing him here and sharing in whatever the family agrees to do in terms of a funeral service. We will all attend, that is the part of the policy of this school.”

Jacqueline Godwin reporting for 7News.

Up to news time police still had no leads in the case. Information to 7News is that Dylan Ayuso was killed by someone he knew and shortly after he was seen leaving the neighbourhood of a well known rival group. According to reports he had just bought a fried chicken and was heading home when he was either kidnapped or lured to the abandoned bus terminal where he was murdered.