7 News Belize

Another Night, Another Murder
posted (May 4, 2018)
For most of this week and last week, violent crime has dominated the headlines. And last night was no different when we reported on a wild shooting at a Chinese Store on Fabers Road in Belize City, which left 4 persons injured.

And the violence in that area continued. Tonight's headline is about a murder which happened a few blocks away at the corner of Fabers Road and Central American Boulevard, only 25 hours later.

29 year-old Jason Sutherland was in his yard when a gunman, pretending to want to do business, got close enough to kill him at close range.

Our news team has been following the story all day - Daniel Ortiz reports:

Daniel Ortiz reporting
Last night, the cops had to process a crime scene in this yard on Central American Boulevard. It's here that 29 year-old Jason Sutherland was shot and killed.

Police say that it happened sometime at around 8:30 p.m., when Sutherland and other friends and relatives were in the yard.

Chester Williams - Deputy Commissioner, Operations
"Sometime around 8:30pm last night, police responded to a shooting incident at the corner of Faber's Road and CA [Central American] Boulevard. Upon arrival they encounter one Jason Sutherland suffering from gunshot wounds. He was subsequently transported to the KHMH and he later succumb to his injuries. At the moment we are looking for one individual who we believe would be able to assist us with that investigation, but we have not been able to catch that person as yet, but we are working on it and we will see where the investigation goes from there."

Eyewitnesses tell us that a man in a peak cap was the shooter. We're told that just before he carried out his attack on Sutherland, he went to this Chinese shop next door, where he bought a cigarette. He then neatly tucked the cigarette behind his ear, and went to Sutherland to purchase a small quantity of marijuana.

Sutherland went and retrieved the weed, and while he was portioning it out to hand over, the gunman pulled out his weapon. Sutherland was caught completely off-guard, and staring down the barrel of the weapon, he tried to flee. That's when the gunman shot him several times in the abdomen and back.

He reportedly fell on the ground here, and he tried to crawl under this food stall. The shooter then stood over him, and shot him several times more to ensure that he died, before fleeing the scene.

Those nearby scrambled to put him into a vehicle, and rushed him to the KHMH, but by that time, it was already too late. Sutherland was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.

His family was hoping that the surveillance cameras at the next-door Chinese store would assist police to identify who his shooter was, since he walked in front of it to buy his cigarette. But, police say, unfortunately, that the store owner's cameras are just like a lookout, they don't record any of the footage they capture.

Chester Williams
"We have made checks to that at that establishment and they do have surveillance camera footage, but it is only for observation. It was not recording. We cannot receive any footage from there. So at time no, we have not gotten anything from there."

This is not the first attempt on Sutherland's life. He was shot in the leg back in 2015.

He is also the second sibling to be taken away from his family due to gun violence. Back in March of 2011, his older brother, 29 year-old Andrew Moses was shot and killed around the lane on Kraal Road. He was an innocent working man, gunned down senselessly.

File: March 11, 2011
Voice of: Mother

"Police can't open up their books and see that they picked up my son for attempted murder, much less of murder and they shot down my son in the streets just like that. My hard working son, they shot him down in the street. They kill my son, my oldest son. He is everything to me. He is my oldest son, he is my first born. If my first born was a problem person then I could understand, you understand. He doesn't bother with anybody."

And last night, they lost Jason Sutherland, a man they described as very friendly and caring.

His family told us off-camera that he is one of 16 brothers and sisters. As you heard in our story, both he and his elder brother were murdered. Jason Sutherland leaves behind a 9 year-old son.

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