A young Belize City resident with hopes of turning his life around has been killed in a shooting on T Street, leaving his family grappling with a devastating second loss in just over a month. Twenty-one-year-old Jaheim Sanchez was the victim of the fatal attack, which was confirmed by local authorities following his arrival at a local hospital.
Shanice Ysaguirre, Sanchez’s mother, shared her story of overwhelming grief with reporters this week, recounting the moment she received the shocking news of her son’s shooting. She was at her family home when her partner broke the news that Jaheim had been hit by gunfire. Ysaguirre immediately rushed to the hospital, where she was confronted with the devastating confirmation that her son had succumbed to his injuries.
In the midst of her pain, Ysaguirre highlighted a little-known side of her son: in the months after his family relocated from their former neighborhood to start fresh, Jaheim had been actively working to rebuild his life and surround himself with positive influences. He had made clear to his mother that he was ready to leave old patterns behind, telling her, “I need to find friends who want to see me uplift.”
Tragically, this shooting is not the first act of violent death the family has endured in recent weeks. On August 31, just under two weeks before Sanchez’s killing, Ysaguirre’s cousin Brianna was murdered in a separate shooting. Sanchez had been deeply shaken by Brianna’s death, and the loss has left the entire family reeling from compounded grief. After Brianna’s killing, Ysaguirre had asked her to watch over her son from beyond; now, she faces the unthinkable pain of losing Jaheim far earlier than she ever imagined.
“My baby gaan from me too quick,” Ysaguirre said through tears, a heartbroken statement that captures the raw pain of a family torn apart by ongoing gun violence in Belize City.