Sherwin Locke gunned down!
Posted: 22/03/2007 - 09:55 PM
Author: Anita Nembhard
It appeared the gun violence that seems to plague the Southside of Belize City had decreased. The reports of shootings had become fewer, with the most recent shooting being reported on March 17 when Theodore Andrews, 22, was shot twice after he tried to rob a Hispanic man, name unknown.
This morning that peace was shattered. Police say that about 11:00 a.m. they responded to a shooting on Lawrence Avenue, which is located off Electric Avenue in the St. Martin De Porres area.
When they arrived police observed a person lying on the ground in a swampy area behind an open lot. He was transported to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital and later identified as Sherwin Locke, 20, a resident of #7262 Mahogany Street.
Minutes after the shooting Amandala visited the area. Residents of Lawrence Avenue told us that as many as 12 shots rang out in the area.
Locke was shot four times - three times in the head and once in the upper right arm, said relatives with whom Amandala spoke late this evening.
Locke was rushed to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, where he underwent four hours of surgery and is listed in a critical condition in the Intensive Care Unit.
Doctors have told relatives that he has a 50/50 chance of surviving because of the three bullets lodged in the head. If the doctors try to remove the bullets he will die, his mother told us.
Police’s initial investigations into the incident have revealed that Locke was in the area when he was approached by a person who chased him and then shot him.
Police say that they are seeking two suspects, but have made no arrests yet.
An eyewitness told Amandala that she saw when Locke was being shot at. She ran out and grabbed her young son, who had just run out to their verandah.
The victim had just run into Lawrence Avenue from an alley. He ran past her house and a man armed with a gun ran after him, firing as he ran.
She remembers hearing Locke crying out for help as he ran and held his head.
According to neighbors, Locke, who tried to seek refuge in the area, ran into a yard on Lawrence Avenue. He managed to make it as far as a mangrove area of an open lot, situated behind the house, when he fell to the ground.
In the open lot, his attacker caught up with him and shot him again, before escaping.
Neighbors on Lawrence Avenue said Locke’s gunman wore a rag on his face, concealing his identity as he ran up Lawrence Avenue. He picked up his bicycle that he had dropped, then entered the same alley that he was seen coming from before the shooting.
A neighbor who rushed to Locke’s aid tried to speak with him, but got no response.
The neighbor turned him over and saw that he was bleeding profusely and foaming at the mouth. He lifted him out of the mangrove area and put him into a police vehicle that had just arrived.
Locke was conscious at the time, but breathing heavily, said another neighbor.
The motive for Locke’s shooting is uncertain at this time. According to his relatives he had gone to Lawrence Avenue to exchange some playstation CDs when he was ambushed.
It appeared he never made it to the house to exchange the CDs, as police found two of them in his pocket.
Sherwin Locke is no stranger to police. In 2006 he and four other men were charged with robbing Brad’s Store on Vernon Street. The charges against Locke were later withdrawn. In January of this year Locke was one of two suspects charged with robbing two elderly couples on Castle Street after a home invasion. Locke was released on bail, and that case is pending.
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