Belize home invasion leaves three dead near San Pedro Town; one charged

Belize: Authorities have confirmed that 22-year-old Shelby Jonathan Hernandez, a Belizean fisherman of San Pedro Town, has been charged in a deadly home invasion that occurred in the Mosquito Coast area, approximately one mile south of San Pedro Town, Belize, on Thursday night, March 19, that has left three people dead including a woman. Reportedly one woman narrowly escaped the scene unharmed.

The victims have been identified as 29-year-old Karim Nazim Espat, a fisherman, 35-year-old Oscar Modesto Mas, a carpenter, 21-year-old female Yerlin Marisol Bueso Alvarez, a Honduran national. Meanwhile the unharmed woman has been identified as victim Espat's wife. 

According to police reports, the incident took place at around 9:58 p.m., on Thursday, at an elevated wooden structure located about one mile south of San Pedro Town, when men armed with firearms, wearing hoodies entered the house yard.

Upon entering the yard, one of the assailants entered the house when all the victims including two men and two women were inside and started firing, following which the one female victim ran away from the house fearing for her life.  

However, all the three remaining victims were fatally injured by the shot fired by the suspects before fleeing the scene of the incident. After the gunshot was seized, the nearby people contacted the officers and reported them hearing the gunshot. 

Responding to the report, local police officers immediately arrived at the scene where they discovered the lifeless bodies of two men Karim Nazim Espat and Oscar Modesto Mas, with apparent gunshot wounds. The medical officers checked them and officially pronounced them dead at the scene. 

The officers also found the third victim Yerlin Marisol Bueso Alvarez, at the scene and transported her to the San Pedro Polyclinic as she was found alive, but she later succumbed to her injuries while receiving treatment. 

Since then, the officers launched their investigation into the circumstances surrounding the matter. The officers also sent the bodies of the three deceased to the mortuary where a post-mortem examination will be conducted to determine the cause of their death. 

During the investigation, the officers recovered multiple 9mm expended shells and 12-gauge cartridges from the scene of the incident and the officers also believe that Karim Nazim Espat was the intended target of the suspects. They are also linking this incident and their death to an ongoing rivalry between drug factions on the island. 

Authorities stated that the investigation into the matter is still ongoing while urging the residents to help them identify the suspects and to tell them about the incident if they have further information so that they can watch the suspects soon.