Another teenaged girl has been killed - the third such death recorded this year.  

On Sunday evening 17-year-old Kyla Young was at a friend's home on Glynn Street, hanging out.  They had no clue that a killer was lurking. 

And, without them even knowing, Kyla along with 24-year-old Anselma Flores and 25-year-old John Peters became targets in a ruthless gang rivalry.  

Here is Kyla's story. 

On Sunday night Belize City saw the murder of another teenaged girl. 17-year-old Kyla Young was hanging out with friends in a yard on Glynn Street near the Salvation Army school when at least two gunmen entered the yard and shot them. Her mother thought she was off on a weekend trip she spoke to us today but remains uncertain about the sequence of events that lead to Kyla's death. Â 

Melanie Young - Mother of the deceased
"She was in a yard socializing and she got shot. That's all I know. That's all the preliminaries I heard no police officer has come as yet to tell me what happened. Saturday morning they said they were leaving to go to Bermuda Landing and she said that she would probably come on Monday. I expected her the Sunday evening until I got that terrible news. She was probably with a friend I have no idea because the person hasn't come to talk to me yet so I don't know."

Those friends were 25-year-old John Peters and 24-year-old Anselma Flores both of whom were shot along with Kyla. They survived but Flores remains in a critical condition at the KHMH. Police believe that the shooting is a result of gang rivalries in the area.

Sr. Supt. Hilberto Romero - Deputy, NCIB
"The information is that they were hanging at the yard drinking and playing cards when the man approached them."

Reporter
"Is it a gang related murder?"

Sr. Supt. Hilberto Romero
"Yes, we have that information that it is a result of ongoing rivalry between groups in that area."

Reporter
"And was Ms. Young the target?"

Sr. Supt. Hilberto Romero
"We are not sure if she was the target. She was at that location when the shooting happened."

Reporter
"Are there any suspects sir?"

Sr. Supt. Hilberto Romero
"Several persons are detained and interviews and investigation will be conducted."

The Cruel Killing of Kareem posted (July 6, 2015) http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=32971

The death of a child is always heart-breaking but Kyla's is doubly so because her death follows that of her uncle, Kareem Clark. Viewers will remember that in 2015 Clark, a reporter for the Amandala newspaper, was ambushed and cruelly gunned down in another of Belize's City's gang-infested areas.

Melanie young says that in the days leading up to her brother's death he was helping Kyla complete an application for a high school scholarship, those hopes were dashed with the devastation surrounding his death and the girl was deeply affected.

Reporter
"How did that affect her?"

Melanie Young
"Well I think that affected her a lot she didn't talk about it she only reacted in different spells because sometimes she'd come to you loving and the next day she's very angry."

Now another of their family members has been lost to gun violence and if Kareem was the family's rock Kyla was their joy.

Melanie Young
"She was mostly my tortilla and my fly kite dough lady and she usually plats up my hair. Kyla had a beautiful smile, beautiful smile and that's what everybody loved about her. She was very jovial and very helpful. Yes she had a troubled past. I must admit that but she was my number, all my children are my number one but she was a really spectacular one she was very smart. She was an honour roll student at E.P. York and then she started to spiral into problems, its rough."

Kyla Young joins 16-year-old Chanteuse Martinez and 16-year-old Samantha Conorquie in becoming the 2020's third teenage girl to die from gun violence in connection to gang rivalry.