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And while ACC tries to shake off the memory of what really was just an idle scare, the Belize Association of Principals of Secondary Schools – or “BAPPS” as it is called - is treating the homicide at Monday’s high school football game with utmost seriousness. They held a meeting today to discuss whether the fight and murder could have been prevented by an adequate police presence, and if it is worth the risk to continue having those games without a police presence.

It happens that for some time now, the principals have been requesting a police presence at their tournaments. They say that it was promised during the match between Sadie Vernon and Ladyville Technical High Schools but there was no security presence. According to the former President of BAPS and the Principal of St. Catherine’s Academy Salome Tillett, the secondary schools were reassured that there would always be a presence at matches.

Salome Tillett, SCA Principal
“It was the saddest thing for us because I feel, I didn’t know the young man who died, but it is as if he was someone that I knew because every time a young person loses their life it is a loss to the community. But I felt particularly sad that it happened at an event that is supposed to go counter to violence and to the loss of hope among our young people. It is terribly sad for all of us in the education circle. We are all at a loss. We are all feeling very said about it. We are thinking not only for the young man, his family, but what is the effect on the other young people who want to be out there, who loves sports, who want to be fans, whose dream is to be an athlete. So it is to decide what is the best course of action moving forward but certainly we cannot do it with the help of the Police Department.

The Belize Association of Principals of Secondary School has been running an athletic tournament through this organization that we founded for over 30 years. We’re the longest running sporting association in Belize. We find however that our young people do not come out support the game as we would like them so we’ve had difficulty funding the security. As you know the cost is $14 per hour and you need four or five officers and so we’re at a point where we had to decide if do we continue running the games because we cannot afford security or do we reach out to the Police Department.

We reached out to them, we spoke to officials of the Police Department and they assured us that their support to us would be to have police officers free of cost at all our games. We run a volleyball tournament, a basketball tournament, we do track and field and softball and we asked them if could they be there to help us at all these games because it really is our own outlet for our young people. What else will they do in the evenings? Where will the athletes go? How will they get to enhance the talents that they already have. Our reports from our personnel that was there is that there were no police officers except for an officer who was there as a parent in plainclothes in stand. So we are on his word that there was no officer there and it is not the first time that no police officer showed up for a game.

So every time a school plays there should be a teacher there to monitor their students and this person would be the one to forward any disciplinary issue to the principal, to the broader association.”

And while the police’s new security measure of frisking all who attend the matches, principal Tillett says they welcome the overall effort to make sure the games are safe to attend. As we’ve reported Monday deadly assault started when a student of Ladyville Technical High was beaten. The report is that Elton Meztken and one Edwin Mendez were watching the game when they were approached by three young men.

Elton Meztken was beaten and twenty seven year old Salvador Jose Martinez went to the young student’s rescue but for his heroic actions the men repeatedly stabbed Salvador Jose Martinez. Martinez received stab wounds to the upper part of his body – and was rushed out of the stadium on the handle of a bike – and was later transferred to the car of a passing driver. He later died at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital.

Police have reportedly recovered a knife that they believe to be the murder weapon. Police say they have since detained four persons including a minor pending the outcome of their investigation.