In the tight-knit coastal community of Dangriga, the Makin family is trapped in overwhelming grief, just days after a targeted, cold-blooded ambush claimed the life of 16-year-old Isaiah Norales, a teenager they spent years fighting to protect from the dangers of street life and harmful influences.
The fatal attack unfolded just after 5 a.m. on Sunday, as Norales rode his bicycle along Penn Road in the Benguche neighborhood. Local law enforcement confirmed that two men on a motorbike pulled alongside the teen after he passed a speed bump, and one gunman opened fire multiple times at close range. First responders rushed the wounded teenager to a nearby medical facility for urgent treatment, but he ultimately succumbed to his severe gunshot injuries.
Speaking on behalf of the National Crime Investigation Branch, Assistant Commissioner of Police Hilberto Romero confirmed that investigators have already taken two persons into custody in connection with the murder, as of the latest update. “On Sunday around 5:30 a.m., police responded to reports of a shooting in the area,” Romero stated. “Upon arrival, we found the 16-year-old victim with multiple gunshot wounds, and he passed away shortly after arriving for care.”
Norales’ life was marked by hardship from his earliest days: his mother passed away when he was only one year old, and his father has been incarcerated for his entire life. Stepping up to raise the boy as her own child was his aunt, Sharilee Makin, who surrounded him with the love and structure every young person needs to thrive. His cousin, Sharwell Makin, grew to be more than a family member — she was his closest confidante and constant companion, who never suspected violence would cut her loved one’s life short.
“ I was out at Y-Not not long before the shooting, and I saw him there,” Sharwell Makin shared in an emotional interview. “We hugged, we talked, and he never said anything about anyone threatening him. By the time I got home, my little sister called and told me he’d been shot and was in the hospital. I was just about to go to sleep, but I jumped up right away and rushed to the hospital with my mom. I still couldn’t believe it — I’d just seen him, and he had no idea what was coming.”
The teenager’s family made repeated, deliberate efforts to pull him away from the dangerous peer group he had begun associating with in Dangriga. First, they sent him to live in Georgetown in the hope that a change of scenery would steer him toward a safer path. When that effort failed to keep him off the streets, Makin reached out directly to Belizean police, requesting intervention and placement in a support program to get him out of harmful environments. Tragically, those repeated requests for help went unanswered, and the family’s worst fears came to pass.
Despite the profound trauma of growing up without his biological parents, those who loved Norales remember him as a warm, open-hearted young man who was still searching for purpose and a place to belong. “Everyone has their own version of who Isaiah was, but to me, he was just a very loving kid,” Sharwell Makin said. “He told me everything, he trusted me completely. I never heard him say he thought his life was in danger, not once.”
Now, as law enforcement continues to build their case against the two suspects in custody, the Makin family is left to plan a funeral for a life cut far too short, and to cling to one simple demand: accountability. “We know who is responsible, because Isaiah was able to share that information before he died, and police have that now,” Sharwell Makin explained. “We don’t want anything else. We just want justice. That’s all we ask for.”
Reporting from Dangriga for News Five, Shane Williams. This report is a transcript of an original television broadcast, with Kriol language quotes transcribed using a standardized spelling system.