On November 10, 2026, Belize City officials confirmed 29-year-old Charles Middleton as the second fatality stemming from a brazen October 31 gang-related shooting in the Taylor’s Alley corridor adjacent to Cemetery Road. The attack unfolded when unidentified armed assailants opened fire on a gathering of local men, instantly killing 31-year-old Charles Nolberto and leaving two additional residents, 32-year-old Cesario Choco and 43-year-old Clifford Olivera, with life-altering gunshot wounds. Middleton clung to life for nearly 10 days receiving emergency medical care before succumbing to his critical injuries. During a weekly public police briefing last Monday, Assistant Superintendent of Police Stacy Smith formally tied the deadly attack to ongoing turf conflicts between rival criminal gangs operating in the Belize District. Middleton’s mother, 47-year-old Stephony Neal, is now navigating overwhelming, disorienting grief while issuing a heartfelt public plea for all community members to reject cycles of retaliation and end the wave of unrelenting gun violence tearing through local neighborhoods. “I prayed day and night, every hour in between, not just for my own children but for every family in this country,” Neal shared through tearful remarks to local reporters. “I beg God to lay a healing hand over all of us, because this senseless killing has become a deadly, unbreakable trend. Belize needs it. Every single one of us needs this violence to stop.” Neal emphasized that she harbors no desire for retaliation, despite her devastating loss, and that her only immediate priorities are laying her son to rest in a peaceful, dignified ceremony and taking extra precautions to keep her remaining family members safe. Court and police records confirm Middleton had previously survived a 2012 mass shooting in the exact same Taylor’s Alley location that left six people wounded. He and surviving shooting victim Cesario Choco had also been arrested and charged in 2015 for the murder of Hattieville taxi driver Patrick Dean Spencer, but the pair were fully acquitted after the prosecution’s entire case fell apart when all key eyewitnesses recanted their previously submitted statements and refused to testify in court.