Did a police officer kill 21-year-old Teddy Murillo?  That is the question his family is asking after the student at the University of Belize’s School of Agriculture in Central Farm and deacon in his Seventh Day Adventist Church was gunned down early on Saturday morning. The official report from the Police Department says that Murillo was found lying face up in a drain on Waight Street on Saturday morning around 4:10 with three gunshot wounds in the back, one in the right side of his buttocks, and one in the right elbow. 

Police say initial investigations revealed that Murillo was riding to his home on Nurse Findley Crescent, two and a half hours

But Murillo’s family is disputing the police’s version of the story and is blaming a police officer for the murder. His mother Danalyn Murillo released a detailed timeline of her son’s final hours alive.  He lived near to school in Cayo but came home on the weekends.  According to the timeline provided by the family, between 7:45 to 9:20 on Friday night he was present at a youth meeting at the Mount Zion Seventh Day Adventist Church on Yarborough Road where he serves as a deacon.  He then rode from the church to his aunt’s house on Faber’s Road. He was there until 10:30 when he went to the BTL Park to hang out with friends. He left the park at 1:30 and it was on his way home that he was fatally shot. 

Some witnesses allege that there was a misunderstanding between Murillo and a certain police officer at the BTL Park, and immediately after that, he sped home.  His family is alleging that it was that same officer, who also happens to be Murillo’s neighbour who killed him.  A witness who says he saw the shooting has told the family that just prior to the shooting, Teddy Murillo told the officer, “dah nuh me”.  Still Danalyn Murillo says her son was shot in the back.  She says witnesses told her that after he was shot, Teddy attempted to run and was shot again. 

Commissioner of Police Crispin Jeffries told the media on Monday that the Police Department has received no formal statement from any witness who was present during the supposed altercation.  He says, “We are waiting patiently for them to come forward. We are prepared to accept a recorded statement.  So long as it has the evidence, we will make an arrest.  We have no difficulty with that.”  The officer accused was briefly detained on Monday for allegedly tampering with a witness in the investigation, but he was released without being charged. 

As for the motive for the murder of Teddy Murillo, his family believes it was a rivalry over girls since Teddy didn’t hang out at street corners and had problems with no one.  He had been a deacon at the Mount Zion Seventh Day Adventist Church for three years.