Ernest “Dangalang” Thurton
A man was killed late this afternoon in Lake Independence, behind the Complex building off Cumberbatch Street. It is the sixth murder in four days and the seventh for the month of April. Ernest Thurton wasn’t from the neighbourhood, but at around four today, he was shot once by an unknown assailant and died on the spot. Police are still processing the scene, but early indications are that Thurton, a cyclist who worked for Santiago Castillo Limited, was targeted because he carried money for the company. Mike Rudon was called out to the scene at around four o’clock and has the story.
Mike Rudon, Reporting
The stillness of a hot afternoon was broken just before four by the sound of one gunshot. That bullet took the life of popular cyclist and Weekend Warrior Ernest ‘Dangalang’ Thurton. He was found curled up against this coconut tree in the backyard of this house off Cumberbatch Street behind the complex. It’s his aunt’s house, but since she resides in the U.S., he used to check on it daily.
As Police processed the scene, Thurton’s family arrived at the scene. The screams of his wife and daughter rang out. They were overcome by grief, and disbelief, because the athlete was known as a hard-working man. He had no gang affiliation and was no street figure. His sister Lorraine believes that the motive was robbery.
Lorraine Thurton, Sister of Murder Victim
“I just came from a funeral and I got home, but I heard the ambulance and I said, I hope dah noh nobody fi me get shot. And as I reach home, dehn call and say my bredda just get shot back ah my auntie house dah Junesville. And I come and I saw that it was him.”
Reporter
“He normally comes behind this area to check on the house?”
Lorraine Thurton
Lorraine Thurton
“He’s here every day; he is the one that is mining the house. My auntie is in the United States at this time so every day—three times a day, four times a day—he is always here.”
Reporter
“Now I understand that your brother is a hard worker. He was on the job right?”
Lorraine Thurton
“Yes, he was on the job. All he do, ride ih race and work fi Santino; that’s all. He noh have no problem with nobody.”
Reporter
“You think he may have been robbed or targeted?”
Lorraine Thurton
“I think maybe dehn think that ih have money or something and dehn just target ahn and kill ahn.”
Mike Rudon
“Can you tell us a little bit bout ih family that has been left behind by him?”
Lorraine Thurton
“I know ih have ih common law wife and kids and ih mi about to get married. That’s all I could seh.”
At about five p.m., after Scenes of Crime personnel were finished, Police prepared to transport the body of Ernest Thurton to the morgue. His family was inconsolable, and his common-law wife fainted and had to be carried away. Ernest Thurton’s life was snuffed out in just an instant.
Santiago ‘Santino’ Castillo, Employer/Friend of Murder Victim
“Ernest Thurton, better known as Dangalang, started working with me about twenty years ago at Santino’s; was a rider on team Santino’s and was transferred to San Cas when I did and really was not a troublemaker at all.”
Reporter
Santiago ‘Santino’ Castillo
“Now I know it just happened, but can you confirm to us if he was on the job?”
Santiago ‘Santino’ Castillo
“Yeah, he was on the job. He was taking some cheques. First of all, he handled no cash; he is a messenger and he took some cheques to the Income Tax Department and I understand he was caretaking his aunt’s house and he passed here—either before or afterwards—to in fact look at the house and he apparently was lay-waited at that time. It seems that he saw the guys, was running away from them…one of them left his slippers because I was back there at the crime scene and it seems that it was one shot ketch ahn to the left side and he fell under a coconut tree dead.”
Santino Castillo summed up the tragedy before he left the scene.
Santiago ‘Santino’ Castillo
“Sad way to lose a life for a good guy. I mean I just rode a race with him on Sunday. And again, although a member of the government, I will say that we really have to address crime in Belize. I mean it is getting closer to all our homes.”
Thurton’s body was carried away in the Police mobile. Inside the yard his family grieved, and incredibly, on the street onlookers cursed because the body was covered and they could not get a good look at it. Ernest Thurton was forty-one years old. He had five children. Mike Rudon for News Five.
News Five will have more on this tragic murder in Wednesday’s newscast.
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