7 News Belize

Survived Many Attempts On His Life, But Big Ben Got Killed On a Sunday
posted (June 3, 2019)
He'd been shot up three times over 15 years - surviving gunshots wounds to almost every part of his body. But, yesterday morning,

36 year old Alvin Cumberbatch known as "Big Ben" couldn't escape death again - this time the gunman shot him in the face. He was gunned down yesterday morning in Pregnant Alley - a known gang area where he'd been shot before.

Courtney Weatherburne has the story.

Courtney Weatherburne reporting
A Sunday morning stop at Pregnant Alley on Cemetery Road made Alvin Cumberbatch a target. A gunman shot and killed him as he stood in the alley - not too far from his house.

Voice of: Ava Cumberbatch Flowers, Aunt
"I was in my house sitting down doing something. I cannot remember quite what I was doing and I heard the gunshot, but I am not the type to run out there to see when gunshot happened who got shot. I like to stay inside and I heard the balling which was my sister and my 2 daughters and then I came outside and they told me they just kill Bin."

Cumberbatch has been targeted at least 3 times before. He was shot to the foot in June 2005, then he was shot to the pelvic area and buttocks in January 2006 and then again in December 2010, he was struck to the chest and thigh. All those incidents happened in the same area between Pregnant and Taylor's Alley's.

But unfortunately, Cumberbatch did not survive yesterday' s attack. Police say even with the history of attempts on his life there is no clear cut motive.

ASP Alejandro Cowo, OC, CIB Belize City
"No motive at this time. We have spoken to family members and other friends, but up to now we have not received or know what is the exact motive behind his death."

Reporter
"We know that he has been someone who had been shot more than once before. Is it a old beef or is it ongoing issues between Taylor's Alley and other areas?"

ASP Alejandro Cowo
"We cannot say it's an old beef. I know that he has been shot some time ago, but information we are getting is something separate that does not have anything with him being shot previously."

Reporter
"Is it an ongoing rivalry between rival groups?"

ASP Alejandro Cowo
"Yes."

Reporter
"Is there any indication if he was still in that world, or is it a matter of just well you come from this area, so we will target you?"

ASP Alejandro Cowo
"Well I know that he had has run-ins with the law some time ago, but we have not heard of him for a good while."

And his aunt says that's because he was trying to live a better life and stay off the streets. He was working as a security guard at Income Tax and he would just focus on his job and family.

Voice of: Ava Cumberbatch Flowers, Aunt
"He is a humble, quite man. He doesn't talk much. He didn't tell us anything. All he would do is come and check on his grandmother and his aunt and his cousins who called him uncle Alvin - he checks on them and that's it, but what he does out there, I don't know and I will not speculate, because I don't know and who am I to judge him? I can't judge him, because I don't know and I can't judge anyone else, because I don't know. When he got that job, he was changed man. He would go to work and come home and bring a chips for my mother and say Gran, I brought this chips for you. Sometimes he would sit down and feed my mother. Sometime for the whole day he would sit down with her, because he was that loving boy to her."

He was shot twice, in the chin and in the back.

Home | Archives | Downloads/Podcasts | Advertise | Contact Us

7 News Belize