There was a shooting in Belmopan last night but it wasn't just any random shooting, the Mayor - Khalid Belisle's house was the target. Last night around 10:30, Belisle was awakened by the sound of gun blasts. When he checked his house this morning he saw the bullet holes and piercings in the walls and his fiancé's car. It is a bold and brazen move and it is even more shocking because it happened in the Garden City to a soft-spoken politician, who is far from being abrasive. Courtney Weatherburne went to Belmopan to try and find some answers.
Courtney Weatherburne reporting
Mayor Khalid Belisle has been living in this Valencia Street house for 3 years.
He and his fiancée has made it their home and they enjoy the peace and quiet in the area. But that calm was ruptured last night after someone shot up his house.
Khalid Belisle, Belmopan, Mayor
"Fiancée and I turned for bed maybe about an hour and a half ago so it was around 10:30 or so that we were jolted out of our sleep by what I counted as four very loud bangs sounding like someone was practically beating on the glass sliding door that leads to a balcony off our bedroom. So I immediately flipped out the lights, took a little while, got out of bed headed over to that same sliding door, flipped on the lights to that balcony just to make sure no one was there. Ascertaining that there was no one on the balcony, I would then come downstairs and then flick on the porch lights just outside the front door to ascertain again if there was anyone was there, no sign of a soul."
The gunman had already fled. It is only until this morning that Belisle saw the aftermath. There were bullet holes in the front wall, in the fence and a bullet even pierced the tire and rim of his fiancé's car.
Khalid Belisle, Belmopan, Mayor
"It seems that the house was actually the target of what were at the point gunshots."
"The gravity of the situation really kicked in and I alerted the police who would then come over, scenes of crime team, CIB and starts doing that ground work that they do. Before they had come over a couple of us along with some guys from traffic department had already started finding spent shells just across the street from the house. I think by the time they got here 5 or 6 had been found. They would continue doing their work, one of the officers said 6 is not a proper number we are looking for 8 so they would continue looking and they would eventually find 2 more shells, that same 8 that he was certain would be out there."
Belisle is known as one of more humble and soft-spoken UDP politicians. He is celebrated as a hard-working and dedicated Mayor. So why would anyone want to target him? Belisle says he doesn't have a clue but what he knows for sure is that it was no political move.
Khalid Belisle, Belmopan, Mayor
"Throwing an absolute blank, throwing an absolute blank but I do want to go on the record to say to say that I am fairly certain that this has nothing to do with politics, it has been some of my friends from the opposite side of the political spectrum that have been reached out and have sent out some of the most endearing words to me since the ordeal became public and so I just want to to put it out there, absolutely no doubt in my mind that politics was not behind this then you have to wonder what else, I try to keep it down the middle, a colleague of mine told me you are the people pleaser, why anybody would want mess with you and so of course you have to ask the question and I have drawn and absolute blank, I have thought about everything council related, that is coming out blanks, in my personal life like I said I try to I try to keep it clean and down the middle."
Courtney Weatherburne, reporter
"There are persons who are saying it may be connected or linked to the squatters situation."
Khalid Belisle, Belmopan, Mayor
"I have a difficult time casting that particular aspersion on the folks who were caught up in that unfortunate squatting situation we had a couple weeks ago by and large they were understanding and they readily admitted that they knew the act they had perpetrated was illegal."
"And so while I could never completely rule it out, I would just have an extremely hard time pointing the finger at any of those folks and I knew several of them personally and so it would be difficult to go that far and connect that particular chain."
So while all the doubt and questions hover, Belisle is forced to take extreme measures to protect his family and friends and reclaim a semblance of the peace he once had in his home.
Khalid Belisle, Belmopan, Mayor
"First and foremost it is trying to make sure that I am thinking about securing the premise and securing my loved ones."
"So installing a camera system is something that I must look at. I have been encouraged to look at the possibility of having an armed security guard at the house which is something that I had never thought would be necessary here in Belmopan. I know a colleague Darrell in Belize City I believe he had security, I am told Mayor Wagner had the same security presence at their residence."
"People are encouraging me to go as far as applying for a firearm license which I have never in my life held and never to hold but I guess things change."
No one has been detained. We will keep following this high profile case.
This is the second time in recent memory that an elected official has been targeted. Said Musa was the first, his house was shot multiple times in January 2013.
