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Shortly after 8:00 last night in Belmopan, 30 year old Brodam Santos was gunned down on Lime street while socializing with two other people in his yard. The group was ambushed by two men who rode by on a motorcycle, firing shots, fatally wounding Brodam, and causing damages to 2 vehicles in the yard where multiple bullet holes were apparent.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Last night sometimes after 8:00pm police received a call of shots fired on Lime Street and based on that they responded. Upon arrival the lifeless body of a male person was found with what appeared to be gunshot wounds. The person was transported to the Belmopan hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Investigations so far revealed that the male individual, the victim was socializing with two other persons on the back of his vehicle when two gunmen came on a motorcycle and one of them fired shots at him with a shotgun causing the fatal injuries. Police are still in that area canvassing to see what information can be obtained with a view to ascertain a motive in respect to this homicide. I can say that the victim is not someone who is known to police. He is a law abiding citizen but one of the male persons he was socializing with is well known to police and is known within the Belmopan and Roaring Creek area as one of those trouble makers. And so we believe that, that other person may have been the intended target and not the person who was actually killed."

Reporter
"Had that individual been brought in for questioning to find out if he would have known who these attackers are or if anything relating to this matter?"

Chester Williams
"Yes he has been interviewed by the police and no useful information has been obtained from him and we do expect that he would not provide anything useful to the police investigation. Nonetheless we are going to see what can be done to obtain information to be able to further the investigation."

We learned today that the intended target is the older brother of a family member who is apparently under serious and sustained threat.

He is 21 year old Jalen Banner, who was caught with a prohibited firearm in Roaring Creek on Saturday so we asked Commissioner Williams about it:

Jules Vasquez
"And are you able to speak about someone with that same last name as the target who was caught in Belmopan two days ago with a firearm a 40 caliber I believe, can you speak about that whether its related to this."

Chester Williams
"Yes, on Saturday I think police did intercepted, I think the brother of the same individual with a prohibited firearm, a 40 caliber pistol and he was arrested and charged for keeping a prohibited firearm and ammunition. In interviews conducted with him he had stated to the police that he had the firearm because he knew that he was being sought by others to be killed and that's the reason why he had it. So, perhaps yes there could be some link to that person who was caught with the firearm and the incident last night."

So was Santos unwittingly the victim of a crime targeting his friend? His family declined comment today, but the Compol says that the victim had to be familiar with the kind of company he kept and the consequences it could have brought about:

Jules Vasquez
"hould Mr, should his friend who was the victim should he have been warned that or should he have known that man, your friend the run very hot right now."

Chester Williams
"Well from what we gathered is that they have been childhood friends, they went to school together, everything together so they knew earache other quite well and would normally hang out as they did last night it just so happen that last night was the unfortunate night where he was eventually killed."

Police are still searching for suspects in this murder.

Jalen Banner was formally arrested and charged on Tuesday morning for keeping a prohibited firearm and ammunition.