On Sunday morning at 8:45 - it's usually church hours - and those who aren't churching are probably sleeping. But 35 year old Anthony Barrerra was looking for a northbound bus; he wanted to go visit his daughter in Orange Walk. But death was stalking him on Sunday morning, and his killer came up from behind and shot him dead. The event has left his family bitterly despondent and asking not for earthly or divine justice; they want revenge.
Here's why.
Monica Bodden, Reporting
At 9:00 on Sunday morning, 35 year old Anthony Barrera lay dead - his lifeless body half on the sidewalk, half on the street. Apart from laying dead on the street his family says he endured the unthinkable indignity of being robbed while he was in the throes of death:
Alvina Barrera - Daughter
"This young man went and took the phone out of my dad pocket and he took the $5 out of his hand, full of blood and then he went at the Chinese shop and the Chinese shop keeper took the same $5 from the person."
The expended shells, five of them were scattered on King Street as the scenes of crime team processed another grisly scene. Broad daylight on a much trafficked street a wild, indiscriminate shooting half a block from the country's busiest bus station, on - of all days - a Sunday.
Barrera was here at the grill for Fit-Fit store. He was making a purchase and had just missed the bus to Orange Walk where he was going to visit his children when a lone gunman rode up on bicycle and opened fire, hitting him in the right jaw and left rib cage.
He was shot from behind; he never knew what was coming and collapsed unto the sidewalk. His family says from what they've heard, he did not die instantly:
Alvina Barrera, Mother
"People say that if the police had pick him up and took him to the hospital, maybe he could have been save because he
was on the ground breeding for a long while like he was gasping for his breath. But the police just stood there standing."
Monica Bodden
"Where was he shot?"
Alvina Barrera, Mother
"He was shot on the right side of his neck and the bullet went through his head."
Monica Bodden
"One gunshot?"
Alvina Barrera, Mother
"One gunshot. The person shot him intentionally. But as I am saying and I hope his mother is watching the news, the same pain and hurt that I am going through she will go through the same thing someday sometime, she will go through the same thing that I am going through. Because we don't have justice and we don't want justice right now."
His mother is enraged and blunt: they want a life for a life:
Alvina Barrera, Mother
"I can't even explain my feelings right now. All that I would want right now is to put my hand on him (the killer). I am telling you the truth as I am sitting here, I would want to hold him myself, because if I hold him I will torture him and when I am done torturing him I will put the gun at the same place where he put the gun on my son, let him feel the same way."
Today the family of Anthony Barrera says they know exactly who took the life of their loved one. In fact they strongly believe that the shooter is a 16 year old who lives in their neighborhood.
They say that Barrera and the young man got into an argument a couple days ago - after Barrera asked the teenager not to hang out in his yard.
Alvina Barrera, Mother
"The little boy that killed him hangs around my son, he use to do errands for my son and my son pay him. Why would he ride up to Tony and do him something like that. The police know who it is and they don't detain him because the police are link up with it."
Monica Bodden
"But someone saw the person ride up and kill him?"
Alvina Barrera, Mother
"Yes, they saw him and they call me on my phone and tell me who it is and I ain't going to help the police to do their job. Let them do their job."
Anthony Barrera leaves behind 5 children, a stepchild and a grandson.
He was going to visit his oldest daughter Alvina Barrera in Orange Walk Town. She never got to see her father - instead, today all she could do was remember the times she spent with him.
Alvina Barrera - Daughter
"It just get me mad because I can't see my father no more when I come up here. It just hurt."
Monica Bodden
"You and your dad had a close relationship?"
Alvina Barrera - Daughter
"Yes ma'am. My father use to pick me up every weekend when I was small and him and I go to the cayes and we would spend the weekend."
Alvina Barrera, Mother
"I never expect because none of my kids are kids that hang out, they are not into those kinds of things. All of them have a job, all of them are working."
And as one more body was heaved into the back of a pickup truck and carted away to the morgue minutes after, A Jaguar patrol walked past casually.
And the shopping continued at this store - no time to hang up - life goes on in this bloodstained city for all but the family of the deceased who are bent on getting justice by any means necessary:
Alvina Barrera, Mother
"I don't want any justice! I don't even want the police to put their hand on him. Leave him to me."
Police have not detained anyone at this time.
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