Gunshots were fired last night just after nine in Dangriga Town, leaving one man dead. 32-year-old Delroy Menzies was shot twice from behind while he sat at his usual hangout spot.
But Menzies wasn't a troublemaker - he wasn't involved in any gangs and he didn't have a criminal past. So why was he targeted? Well, it seems he may have been warned before he was killed. Courtney Menzies traveled south today to find out more. Here is that story.
32-year-old Delroy Menzies could be found sitting on this bench at Kulcha Kitchen at the corner of Plum and Grapefruit Streets most nights. And it was right here that Menzies met his death.
He was with his common-law wife and her cousin, who he was close friends with. She told us that she was also sitting with them when someone came and ordered food. But before she could even light the stove, gunshots rang out.
Voice of: Close Friend
"As I reach inside, I heard three gunshots and when I came outside my cousin was bawling and I notice that Delly got shot so I called 911, called the police."
"He's out here with me everyday, everyday he would come by because my cousin come and help me at the shop and he would come and relax, play his music, sit down, chill until I close sometimes he would be out here with me."
Courtney Menzies:
"And at no point did he mention that somebody might have been after him for any reason?"
Voice of: Close Friend
"No, he didn't mention any of that to me."
"Right now I can't even think straight, I can't even think clearly. Delly was like my brother but he didn't say anybody was threatening him, nothing like that."
And since they knew each other for years, Menzies met his common-law wife, whom he started dating last year, through her. And moments before his murder, a vehicle stopped briefly in front of the couple.
Voice of: Close Friend
"I was here and a vehicle just passed and said, hold your girl tight, and that's it. I asked who it was, he said he didn't know who it was. I don't know who it is, we don't know."
Reporter:
"When you heard that remark coming from that vehicle, that didn't raise any suspicions for you at the time?"
Voice of: Close Friend
"No, because we're not thinking anything, we just sit down and continue talk because we weren't thinking anything, he wasn't thinking anything because he said he didn't know who it was so we weren't thinking anything like that."
After the shooting, the gunman escaped on foot. And while his family was frantically trying to get him to a hospital - just in case - they said they weren't allowed to move him.
Voice of: Close Friend
"The body was on the ground for like two hours and change and the police didn't want anybody to take him to the hospital and we were asking, everybody was asking to take the man to the hospital. They said they can't touch the body, nobody can take him to the hospital. If you leave a person on the ground to die, if it was you all, you would have wanted them to take you to the hospital, so why leave the man down there to die? They said they can't, they were doing their job, they can't move the man. My cousin went and got a vehicle to take the man to the hospital and the police didn't want."
And now, Menzies is in the morgue, awaiting a postmortem, and his family is unable to come to terms with it.
Voice of: Close Friend
"I just came from visiting my cousin and she's trying to be strong but, we just take it hard. We're in disbelief, it just happened so fast and she's just in shock still."
"He was a nice person, just calm, he comes around, he plays his music, he's handy, when I want anything to be fixed, he fixes it for me. We're always together, me, him and his girlfriend, always together. He's just a nice person, he would come, not say anything to anybody, he doesn't mess with people, he's just a cool guy."
Menzies had one daughter and three step children.
Police have detained several suspects so far, including two teenagers.