Area representative Elodio Aragon has a unique perspective. It happened right outside a tournament he sponsored; he was there and it was in his division. He told us that it struck too close to home:..
Hon. Elodio Aragon - Minister of State, National Security
"This is the last thing you would have expected on a most splendid day. The sun was shining, the kids were having fun, the parents are out there supporting their kids, you couldn't have asked for a better day; for us to have ended in such bloodshed out there and it is so sad for our community. As I said this concerns me because that is my area and I feel for it especially because that is about two stone throws from my house and it concerns me as much as it has affected our community. Definitely I have asked the police department to really look into this thing; I know there is a lot of work that has to be done but the police department has been tasked to continue to work on these things."
Reporter
"Apparently the players are well known, so why is that it has reached to this point where it seems that the police they are just allowing it to play out?"
Hon. Elodio Aragon
"I wouldn't say the police is allowing to play out, you must understand in all of our communities there are people who are involved whether in criminal activity, whether it be drugs, whether it be gangs, whether it be crime - in all of our communities we have these people and the law has to do what it has to do but sometimes it's easier said than done because it's not only about the policing aspect of this, it's about the prosecution of these people. So there are a lot of things that makes it not so easy."
Jules Vasquez
"It's you area, your tournament, you are the Minister of State in the Ministry of National Security and the most brazen execution Orange Walk has seen in sometime, the type of execution that evokes the Rambo-town days when you were a boy - it has to be some sort of embarrassment for you minister."
Hon. Elodio Aragon
"Well not really you know, we have to look at it this way, Orange Walk is one of the most peaceful communities we have in this country. To date with the 2 murders yesterday it's only 3 murders we've had in Orange Walk."
Jules Vasquez
"All related, the Vargas one was related to this."
Hon. Elodio Aragon
"Well Jules maybe you know more than me, I'm not here to speculate on these things, it's for the police department to look into; but what I will say is this, these things occur across the globe, incident like these do occur. I mean in the United States you have terrorism, it impacts a whole community and country. These things happen, what we have to do as a police department is to work deal with these situations, to deal with the actors, the people who are involved, to go after them and to ensure that they can create that sense of safety in our community."
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