BELIZE CITY, Belize – A 21-year-old man who had spent months rebuilding his life after a recent prison release has become the latest casualty of the persistent gun violence plaguing Belize City, killed in a targeted shooting that has left his family reeling from their second violent death in just over a week.
On Wednesday evening, Jahiem Sanchez was socializing with another man on a parked vehicle along T Street when two gunmen approached the pair on a motorcycle and opened fire, according to initial eyewitness accounts from law enforcement and witnesses. Sanchez was struck multiple times and succumbed to his injuries before emergency personnel could transport him to care, while his companion was rushed to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The violent killing comes just eight days after the death of Sanchez’s cousin, 20-something Brianna Myvett, who was also killed by gunfire earlier this month. On the same day Ysaguirre was formally notified of her son’s death, she was preparing to attend Myvett’s funeral in Belize City, compounding a family tragedy that has highlighted the human cost of rising violent crime in the region.
Sanchez’s path toward a new beginning began three months prior, when he was released from prison following a arrest earlier that year. In February, police conducting an investigation into a separate shooting incident recovered a 9-millimeter pistol from Sanchez’s home. While another individual was ultimately charged in connection with that case, Sanchez still served a three-month prison term before gaining his release.
According to his mother, Shanice Ysaguirre, Sanchez made a deliberate choice to turn his life around after leaving incarceration. He cut ties with old acquaintances who had led him into legal trouble, actively sought steady work, and even moved into his own rented accommodation – steps that Ysaguirre said made her deeply proud of her son.
“When he got out of jail, nobody from his old crowd checked on him – only me, my friends and my partner,” Ysaguirre said in an interview with News Five. “He told me he wanted new friends who wanted to see him do better. The new people he started hanging out with got him a job, made sure he went to work every day, helped him get his own place. I was so proud of how far he’d come.”
Recalling the moment she learned of her son’s shooting, Ysaguirre described the chaotic rush to the hospital and the agonizing wait for news that ultimately ended in heartbreak. “When someone told me Jahiem had been shot, I just started crying and got in the car right away,” she said. “I was praying the whole way that he’d just been shot in the hand or foot, that he wasn’t dead. When we got to the hospital, the doctors told me they’d operated and asked me to wait outside. Then a CIB officer came out and said they’d cleaned him up. I asked her if that meant my son was dead, and she said yes. He was dead before he even got to the hospital.”
For Ysaguirre and her family, the loss of Sanchez comes with an extra layer of pain, just over a week after the family gathered to mourn the shooting death of Myvett. Sanchez had been deeply shaken by his cousin’s death, Ysaguirre said, and the pair had been close from childhood, often spending time together on family outings.
“It’s been so rough. When Brianna got shot, Jahiem left work immediately and came to get me to go to his aunt’s house,” Ysaguirre recalled. “He just got so weak and started crying, hugging me. Yesterday I went to the morgue to see Brianna, and I told her to take care of my boy – he’s gone too soon.”
Outside of his efforts to rebuild his life, Sanchez was remembered as a young man who loved dancing, playing sports, and spending time with his family. His mother told reporters he had recently been making improvements to his new rental home, excited to build the stable future he had worked so hard to achieve.
Now, Ysaguirre says she and her family are demanding answers from investigators, urging police to track down and hold accountable the two gunmen who took her son’s life. No suspects have been named or arrested in connection with the shooting as of press time.
Britney Gordon reported this story for News Five.