7 News Belize

Teenager Collet Killed
posted (March 17, 2020)

5-year-old Kia Herbert, and her mother, 27-year-old Francis Herbert, were not the only Belize City residents who were hurt by gun violence last night. There was another gun murder, and this time, the victim is 19-year-old Collet Morter, a resident of Riverside Street in the Lake Independence Area. 

Reports to 7News are that at around 9:05 last night, he was over at a friend's house on Gladden Street. He was watching television in the living room with his friends when someone shouted his name outside. He went to see who it was, but apparently, it was an ambush.

As soon as he stepped out of the house, a gunman shot him. That injury was fatal, and Morter collapsed right where he was shot. 

Again, it appears that it is another senseless crime with suspected gang-related overtones, and so, we spoke with his mother today. 

She told about what she knows about her son's killing:

Doreen Baltazar - Mother of Deceased
"All I know is that somebody came to the house that he was, and shouted his name. When he looked out and asked it was, the person was stooped low. He jumped up and shot him."

Reporter
"So do you have any explanation, anything that comes to your mind as to why anybody would want to hurt your son?"

Doreen Baltazar
"Well actually, I have 2 things that I could say. It could either be territorial. The area that we live in, you have different guys claiming different sides, and then a couple of weeks ago, a murder happened on Ebony Street, and somebody called my son's name. From then, they targeted him."

Reporter
"We understand that he was visiting friends."

Doreen Baltazar
"The house that he got shot is actually, yes, his friend's, but he stays there. He sleeps there because, at my house, I told him that if you can't come at 9 o'clock, don't come here."

Reporter
"Was it challenging to get him to follow that instruction that he had to be home by 9?"

Doreen Baltazar
"It was. Yes, it was challenging at times. Sometimes he came in when he was to come in, and when he wants to hang out and just chill with his friends, he stayed with them. For right now, I'm hurt. Losing your first child, it hurts, but I can't do anything about it. Collet was a child [who] everybody - anybody who knows collet, he's a cool guy because he can befriend anybody. It's just the environment that we are in that caused this to happen."

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