7 News Belize

Lawless Gunman Shot Straight Into a Dollar Van, Killing One Injuring Four
posted (March 3, 2020)
And the senseless violence started yesterday evening in the Martin's area. Last night we told you that three people were shot and one of them killed in a dollar van that was driving along Mahogany street. Tonight we can tell you that an 8-month old baby was also injured by the shattered glass during the incident.

It's a terrifying story for those that use public transport. Cherisse Halsall reports.

Dollar vans, they're a trusted and convenient means of shuttling around the city and most people jump in and out of them without a second thought. That's because they're the cheapest and most convenient way between point A and point B.

But yesterday a dollar van was targeted and one man was killed while two other persons were shot, and an 8-month-old baby grazed by the broken glass from a shattered window.

The murder of 25-year-old Gregory Martinez didn't start in that dollar van. At 1:25 in the afternoon, Martinez was at his uncle's mechanic shop on police street when the gunman found him.

Yesterday his Aunt told Love News what she knew about her nephew's last moments.

Voice of: Apolonia Ramclam, Aunt of the deceased
"I just heard the gunshots ring out. I came out and when I realized it wasn't my husband nor none of the guys and all I remember is my nephew and my nephew just took and ran. I couldn't see what direction he went."

He went out the back and onto Mahogany street. This surveillance video shows Martinez hailing a dollar van and jumping inside. But the gunman is on his tail and before he can close the door that gunman fires shots into the vehicle killing Martinez and wounding two others - innocent passengers. The van drives away but the gunman continues firing at its back window.

That back window is visible here completely shattered moments after the shooting, as the van sits on the emergency ramp at the KHMH.

Apolonia Ramclam, Aunt of the deceased
"His life was in danger from Friday night from the accident that happened because it almost happened so I knew that they'd come for him."

"He was my nephew, I raised him from he was about 7 months until this day. I just don't know what the problem is, why they came and just killed him, I don't know."

And while the Martinez family still has questions, the passengers of that dollar van are surely terrorized, while the driver 35 year old Fransico Avilez and his passengers 20-year-old passenger Demy Avilez along with her 8-month-old baby are recovering from injuries they could never have imagined when they left home.

Francisco and Delmy Avilez along with as 8-month old Eddrick Avilez have all been treated and discharged from the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital.

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

7 News Belize