A young man was killed at "I and I Bar" on Caye Caulker last night. And while that may have you thinking that he died in some drunken brawl, in fact, 17 year old Issac Marin was sleeping in his bed.
He was the son of the bar's proprietor, and how he was killed is among one of the worst tragedies that could befall a family: the killer was his mentally ill cousin.
Here is that story from Caye Caulker.
Cherisse Halsall reporting
A Caye Caulker family is reeling tonight after a cousin killed their son:
17 year old Issac Marin was asleep in his room last night just before 12 when his cousin attacked him. This cousin who had been living with the family for a number of months is reportedly mentally ill. Now the question on the minds of Caye Caulker residents is what pushed this young man, delicate as his mental health may have been, to commit an extreme and fatal act of violence.
Seleny Villanueva Pott, Chairperson, Caye Caulker
"It is known that he is a mental patient. What we do know is that he was getting help. He was evaluated and was on treatment."
And while Issac Marin who was asleep was defenseless against his assailant, he was heroically defended by his brother Carlos.
Seleny Villanueva Pott
"What triggered it we don't know what happened. We don't know. One of his elder brother walked in when this was going on and in defense he tried to intervene and that's when the altercation got even bigger and he became involved as well."
Tragic incidents are not common occurrences in this tightly knit community. So, when the village chairwoman got the call last night she felt obligated to be present.
Seleny Villanueva Pott
"Early this morning I'd say thereabout about 12:30am I received a call from one of the family members that were over at the community center saying that her brothers have been stabbed."
"Unfortunately one of them had passed by then and the other one was being worked on and he was stable from last night. Critical but stable. We mobilized transportation. We were trying to get some air ambulance in. Unfortunately we couldn't so we went with boat which is always our mode of transportation out here. So we got him transferred to Karl Heusner around 1:30a.m. 2:00a.m."
Police worked rather quickly to incarcerate the assailant although it is not clear whether he was apprehended or handed over by his family. They have, however, requested that his mental state be evaluated.
Seleny Villanueva Pott
"Whenever incidents like these transpire it shakes the entire community. We believe that in a situation like this it's something that triggered the patient and It could have been worse and were very grateful that we didn't lose more than one person in this unfortunate event."
As for the deceased minor, Issac Marin, the Caye Caulker community can only remember him fondly.
Seleny Villanueva Pott
"I believe he was 17 years old. Very very young guy with a future ahead of him loved fishing. True essence of a key bwoy."
Carlos Marin remains at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital in a stable condition.
The cousin who wielded the knife that caused the fatal and non-fatal injuries is currently detained at the Caye Caulker Police station. Indications are that he will be charged attempted murder today, but a psychiatric evaluation will be done before he can be charged for killing Isaac. Police are calling it a death investigation, not a murder.
We note that this is the second day in a row that we are reporting on a family member killed by a relative. On Saturday morning, 66 year old Paul Castillo was allegedly hacked to death by his own son in Corozal.
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