On a routine Wednesday evening in Port Loyola, Belize City, a violent shooting cut short the life of 19-year-old Anthony Perry just a few hundred feet away from his own front door. The young man was on his way to visit a family member when the fatal attack unfolded, sending shockwaves through the tight-knit local community.
According to senior law enforcement official Assistant Commissioner of Police Hilberto Romero, initial investigations paint a clear picture of the incident: Perry was moving through the neighborhood when an unidentified male suspect approached him and opened fire, striking the teen multiple times. Emergency responders rushed the wounded young man to Belize’s primary public healthcare facility, Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, but medical teams could not save him – Perry was pronounced dead immediately upon arrival.
Romero confirmed that the killing is tied to a long-simmering feud between groups active in the nearby Louis Bevans area. He also noted that Perry was already known to law enforcement, with a prior criminal record. As of the latest update, the investigation remains active: authorities have identified two persons of interest connected to the attack, and are currently combing through surveillance camera footage collected from the surrounding area to piece together a full timeline of the shooting.
The violence unfolded in close proximity to Perry’s girlfriend, Allyssa Teul, who rushed to the scene moments after the gunfire stopped. In an emotional interview, she described the chaos and disbelief of that evening: by the time she ran outside after Perry’s aunt alerted her to the shooting, she could only run toward the sound of commotion, never expecting to find her partner lying fatally wounded on the ground.
Perry’s father, Anthony Perry Sr., recalled the devastating moment he received the news of his son’s death. He explained that he first missed three incoming calls from his older son, and before he could retrieve his phone to return the call, his eldest called again with the devastating update: “daddy they just kill Version,” using the common nickname for the slain 19-year-old.
As residents of Port Loyola grapple with yet another act of violent crime in the district, law enforcement has not announced any arrests yet, and the search for the two suspects continues.