Darrington Lauriano
A United Nations report places Belize as the third of ten countries with the highest rate of murders in the world. It’s a startling statistic and this past weekend proved to be one of the bloodiest since the beginning of the year. In the wave of violence five persons were killed. We start here in the Old Capital, where the murder count went up by three within thirty hours. News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports on the first murder for the weekend.
Isani Cayetano, Reproting
The murder of twenty-seven year old Darrington Lauriano, just two weeks after his elder brother was met with a similar fate, is another tragedy the grief-stricken family is forced to deal with. Lauriano, no stranger to the law, was gunned down inside Mike’s Club on Saturday evening, as he sat with a group of men.
Supt. Alden Dawson, O.C., Precinct One, Belize City Police
Alden Dawson
“Sometime after six p.m. on Saturday, April twelfth, police responded to a call at Mike’s Club at seventeen Regent Street West and upon their arrival at that club they saw the lifeless body of Darrington Robert Lauriano, twenty-seven-year-old, lying face down in a pool of blood.”
Lauriano had been shot multiple times by a lone gunman. The killer reportedly entered the premises, fired a volley of rounds at his quarry then exited, leaving Lauriano to hemorrhage from the deadly injuries.
Supt. Alden Dawson
“Checks of the body revealed that he had been shot several times, one to the right side of the forehead, one beneath the nose, one to his left arm and his right cheek. What we learned from that investigation so far is that he was sitting in the establishment when a lone gunman entered the said establishment and fired several shots upon Darrington Lauriano, fatally wounding him.’
Darrington Lauriano & Hector Dean Lyons
His history of run-ins with the law is extensive. Not to be mistaken with his namesake, a San Pedro resident who was recently arraigned for firearm and drug possession, Darrington Lauriano’s last recorded court appearance was for burglarizing the home of his ex-girlfriend in July of last year. Who killed him and why are questions that Belize City police are trying to have answered.
Supt. Alden Dawson
“At this time we don’t really have a motive, but the officers are out there dealing with this most recent murder.”
On March thirtieth, Lauriano’s brother, Hector Dean Lyons, also known as Bad Card, was expunged shortly after winning a substantial sum of money in the Sunday lottery. Lyons was shot once to the head and executed a stone’s throw away from where his younger sibling would later be killed.
Lola Flowers
Lola Flowers, Wife of Hector Dean Lyons [File: March 31st, 2014]
“Somebody called not my phone but my daughter husband phone and tell dehn that Dean just get shot dah Mike’s Club and I jump up because they never want I know cause they know I just come outta wah stroke. I said dah what. And she say, ma, Dean just get shot. I said, Jesus Christ and I start to pray. I say I hope ih noh dead. And not even wah good three minutes after they call back and say that ih dead and I have to come identify something and go dah the precinct.”
It is unclear whether these incidents are in any way related. There are, however, concerns about the location where the men were killed.
Supt. Alden Dawson
“I do not know what security that club has in place but I know it’s a club that is always open and from my recollection it’s also a members [only] club. It has a members only club license.”
Lauriano’s attacker is described as a dark-complexioned male clad in a white tee shirt. It’s a rather ambiguous description, one that does very little to advance the progress of the criminal investigation.
Supt. Alden Dawson
“I haven’t been briefed since this morning about any further success. But, like I said, the officers are out and they are working on this said murder. And so far, I think it was only the common law who came forward to identify the body and they continue to work on the investigation.”
Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.
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