On the crime front, San Pedro saw its first murder for 2023 this past weekend. A fight in the San Pedrito area of Ambergris Caye led to a man being stabbed several times in the chest, abdomen, and back. It was early Sunday morning when 29-year-old Elder Arana was attacked inside a nightclub and left to bleed out in the street. But police responded swiftly, and his alleged assailant has already been detained.
Arana's sister spoke to our colleagues at the San Pedro Sun today, and Courtney Menzies has this story.
29-year-old Elder Arana was at Jeemar's Nightclub in San Pedrito area when he got into an altercation where his assailant began choking him. That altercation erupted into a brawl which spilled out unto the streets, which is where Arana received the fatal injuries.
ASP Fitzroy Yearwood, Police Press Officer
"Three men were seen fleeing from the scene. A man identified to police as Alvaro Tun was pointed out by bystanders as one of the persons involved in the brawl. Person later identified as Elder Arana, 29 years, was said to have been transported to the San Pedro Polyclinic. Upon arrival there, police saw him receiving treatment for several stab wounds. Sometime after that, around 2am, Mr Arana was pronounced dead by medical officers. Police immediately launched an investigation, they interview several persons that were in the area and I know that they gathered enough evidence to charge Mr Tun for the murder that was committed on Sunday."
"From witness, we have gathered that they were socializing at the nightclub. When Mr Arana exited the nightclub, he was attacked by Mr Tun, who it is believed inflicted these stab wounds to Mr Arana. The motive has not yet been ascertained, but it is clearly a one on one attack."
And according to Arana's sister, her brother wasn't normally the type to socialize, but she says it was alcohol that fueled the attacks against him.
Michelle Arana, Sister of Deceased
"The people that saw what happened that night, told me that my brother was just reaching to that spot and the other guy got drunk, he was already drunk and he started the fight with my brother."
"My brother has been two years on this island and my brother, he was a guy that, he was friendly. I didn't have that relationship to visit him so much because of my baby so but we used to talk a lot."
"My brother doesn't really go out but that night they called him to go at that spot. When he reached, that was when everything started."
Arana leaves behind three children.
Tun was arraigned earlier today in the San Pedro Magistrate court. His family says he is innocent and that someone actually called him to go to that bar to deal with some altercation because he owns a security company. They say he was parting a fight Elder Arana was involved in, and then the fight continued outside.
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