On the evening of Sunday, October 25, 2026, Erica Valerio was mid-shift at her workplace when an urgent, life-altering phone call shattered her routine: her 11-year-old and 14-year-old daughters had been struck by gunfire outside their family home on Arlington Drive. According to local law enforcement, the two girls were gathered with a small group of acquaintances near their property’s front gate when an unidentified assailant approached and opened fire at random. Investigators have stated preliminary evidence suggests the gunman may have been targeting a different individual in the gathering, making the two minors unintended, innocent bystanders in the attack. For Valerio, however, questions of motive fade in comparison to the raw, traumatic reality that both of her children suffered gunshot wounds. In a tearful on-camera interview with local reporter Shane Williams, Valerio recounted the harrowing moments after receiving the call. “They told me, ‘Erica, your baby just got shot in the face. Hurry to the hospital,’” she recalled, her voice trembling. “I hung up the phone and ran out immediately. My mind raced to every worst possible outcome: I thought they were dead, I thought I would get to the hospital and hear the worst news. I started crying and my whole body felt light, like I could barely stand.” When she arrived at the medical facility, Valerio said she felt a flicker of relief to see her youngest daughter able to speak to her, but the relief quickly dissolved as she processed the full extent of their injuries. Both girls suffered grazing wounds to their faces, while the 11-year-old sustained more severe injuries to her shoulder and the back of her foot. Even in the days after the attack, Valerio said, her daughters remain visibly shaken, repeatedly rehashing the moment the gunman opened fire and struggling to process that they were targeted for no discernible reason. “Those girls still can’t believe it happened,” she said. “We often hang out as a family right outside our gate, chatting and spending time together – we never thought something like this would happen in our own yard.” In a separate, unrelated incident late the same night in Belize City, well-known local Belizean artist Kenroy Linares, professionally known by his stage name Kenny Juice, was also shot. Unverified social media posts initially claimed the shooting took place directly outside popular local venue Club Bizzo, but the establishment’s ownership released a public statement clarifying the incident occurred several blocks away up the adjacent street, to avoid spreading misinformation that could harm their business reputation or mislead the public. Law enforcement officials have not released additional details about the circumstances of Linares’ shooting, and the case remains active and under ongoing investigation, with local news outlets set to share updates as more verified information becomes available. The news segment, which aired as part of a local evening television newscast, included direct transcribed quotes from residents speaking in Belizean Kriol, rendered using a standardized official spelling system to preserve the accuracy of firsthand accounts.