Joseph Babb killed on New Year’s Day
Joseph Babb, a 21-year-old resident of Jones Street in Belize City, died on New Years Day, after he was gunned down by an unknown shooter. Babb was reputed to be a major influence in the “Backaland” Gang, in the Lake Independence area, but according to those closest to him, he later became more like a community activist, starting about two years ago.
According to police, on Tuesday, January 1, 2019, at around 6:30 p.m., they received information of a fatal shooting near to Keffy’s Shop, which is located at the corner of Blue Marlin Avenue and an unnamed street. They visited that location, and they found Babb’s lifeless body; he had been shot several times to various parts of the body. They processed the scene, gathered evidence, and they transported him to the KHMH, where an on-duty doctor pronounced him dead on arrival.
Police investigation reveals that at around 6:15 p.m., Babb was standing in front of a food stall on Blue Marlin Avenue when a man arrived in a vehicle and immediately opened fire on him. Babb tried to flee by running through the yard where the food stall is located, but his assailant pursued him, and kept on firing bullets at him. He eventually collapsed on the concrete floor beside Keffy’s Shop, and that’s where he took his last breath.
Babb’s family declined comment to the press, but Dianne Finnegan, one of the civilian mediators, who worked with the Police Department for several years to try and de-escalate tensions between the different Belize City gangs, spoke with the press about her interactions with him.
She told the press that she encountered him back in 2016, when the now Deputy Police Commissioner, Chester Williams, and Nuri Muhammad, were trying to get these at-risk youths from the City’s gangs to change their lifestyles.
She said that Babb’s mother got in touch with them and asked that they make a gang intervention for him, since he was on a destructive path. They tried, and just when they were considering giving up and moving on, he reached out to them. He invited those young men he socialized with from the “Backaland” Gang, and that’s when Finnegan began noticing a change in him. She and the mediators were able to foster a mutual understanding with the PIV gang affiliates and Backaland, where they would try to cool off tensions between these two rival gang groups.
Finnegan said that Babb began to make positive changes in his lifestyle, so that when she began considering running for elected office in the Lake Independence, he was one of her first confidants, as an influential member of that community. He then described how he slowly developed into one of her political advisors for Lake Independence, and that he was an avid supporter and campaigner. She says that during her interactions with him, he was always advocating for poor families in his neighborhood, whom he wanted her to get aid for.
Murder and Rape in the New Year
The Belize Police Department held a press conference on Wednesday January 2 during which they reassured the public that five murders which took place on New Year’s Day “does not signal public terror.” The five instances of murder took place in various parts of the country and according to the police they are all unrelated.
The first of those murders took place on Tuesday January 1. Police say that at about 7:35am on that day they visited Lucky Strike Village where they found a man dressed in a navy blue long pants with a striped shirt lying face down on the floor of a single bedroom home. The body had what appeared to be chop wounds to the back of the head and right shoulder.
The man was later identified as Howard Coleman, a 58-year-old wood carver of the village.
Police investigations revealed that at about 4:10am on New Year’s morning a 26-year old woman who lives at the house with Coleman arrived with a man identified as Giovanni Jones after being at a party in the village. Jones was to have dropped off the woman but instead of doing so, he followed the woman into Coleman’s house. She reportedly asked him to leave; but he refused. It was at this point that Coleman also asked Jones to leave however, he refused and they got involved in an altercation. Coleman was punched twice to the mouth causing an abrasion. After this Coleman exited the room he was in with the woman and Jones followed him but not before ordering the woman to stay where she was.
The woman told police that seconds later she heard Coleman moaning after which Jones returned into the bedroom punched her in the face, tore off her underwear and proceeded to rape her.
Police have since recovered what is believed to be the murder weapon and have detained Giovanni Jones pending the investigation of murder.
Anita Pineda stabbed to death by her husband
The life of 33-year-old Anita Pineda was abruptly brought to an end on New Year’s Day when her common-law husband killed her.
Police report that she was at one of her family member’s home on Constellation Boulevard in the Kontiki Area of San Ignacio sometime around 8:00p.m. on New Years’ Night when she was murdered. While at the home, her common-law husband, Ruben Cassasola, came calling and they got involved in an argument. During this argument, Cassasola pulled out a knife and stabbed Pineda to the left side of the chest.
Pineda was transported to the San Ignacio Community Hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival. Cassasola managed to escape but police caught up with him in Calla Creek on Wednesday January 2nd. He is now detained and is expected to be charged with murder on Thursday.
Preston Reynolds 4th New Year’s Day murder
On New Years Day, less than two hours after Belize City police responded to the gun murder of 22-year-old Joseph Babb, they had to rush back out to take control of the murder scene of 22-year-old Preston Reynolds Jr., a resident of Jane Usher Boulevard.
At around 8:10 p.m. on January 1st, 2019, police first-responders visited an area off Jane Usher Boulevard, where they found Reynolds’s lifeless body. Someone shot him in the back of the head, to the lower back, the lower abdomen, and the left buttocks. Initial police investigation reveals that about nine minutes earlier, he was riding his bike on Jane Usher Boulevard, when residents of the area heard a barrage of gunshots ring out. Reports to the press are that Reynolds jumped off the bike, and tried to flee from his attackers, but they chased him down and shot him to death. Two men were seen fleeing the area of the crime scene. The cops arrived shortly after that, and their search of the crime scene led to the recovery of four expended shells and Reynolds’ bicycle. He was transported to the KHMH, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Police say that prior to his killing, Reynolds had a misunderstanding with someone that same day, and they suspect that his killing may be connected to that prior dispute.
Of significance is that his common-law wife, Tanisha Knox, ended up pressing criminal charges against another woman 36-year-old Therese Elijio Young for allegedly slashing her on the arm with a knife on New Years Day. Knox reported to police that at around 10:30 a.m., she went to visit Reynolds on Neal’s Pen Road, and when she arrived, she encountered Elijio-Young, who insulted her and called her an offensive name.
Knox says that Elijio-Young left, returned, and demanded that she come outside. When she did, Elijio-Young allegedly pulled out a knife from her purse, and that’s when they got into a struggle. Knox say that during that incident, Elijio-Young slashed her on the right hand with the knife.
Police investigated her report, and they charged Elijio-Young with wounding. On Wednesday, January 2nd, 2019, she was arraigned before Senior Magistrate Aretha Ford. She was released on bail of $800, and she must return to court on March 13th, 2019.
Hours after that fight between these two women, Reynolds was shot and killed.
Dead body washes up in Blackman Eddy
Police are yet to determine the identity of a man who was found floating in the Belize River in Blackman Eddy village in Western Belize.
Police report that on January 2nd they were alerted to the body of a man of Hispanic descent floating in the river. The body had on a red and black plaid shirt, a long navy blue pants, and black tennis shoe. The body of the man is yet to be identified but when it was retrieved from the river, his hands were tied behind his back. Police suspect that based of the state of decomposition, the person had been dead for three to four days.
An onsite post-mortem certified that the man died as a result of manual strangulation. One of the distinguishing marks on the body is a tattoo of a star on the right side of the abdomen.
Police say that they do not have any reports of any individual matching the description of the man and they suspect that he may have floated into Belizean territory after being killed in Guatemala.
