2 weeks ago
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Belmopan Police are following leads and reviewing surveillance cameras in the area where 55-year-old Mark Anthony Gabriel was killed. Gabourel was inside a Caribbean Chicken delivery truck when robbers on a motorcycle targeted him and his 15-year-old side salesman. Love News has been following the story since the incident occurred just before five o’clock yesterday evening. Here is our correspondent LJay Wade for a deeper look into the incident.
Ljay Wade, Belmopan Correspondent: What started out as a routine Wednesday evening for a Belmopan resident 55-year-old Mark Gabourel turned into tragedy after he was targeted by two gunmen. Gabourel, an employee of Caribbean Chicken and one of his colleagues, were cleaning the freezers inside the Sunny City supermarket as they would normally do on Wednesdays. When they were finished and got in their delivery truck to leave the establishment they were accosted by two armed men on a motorcycle. Gabourel, in an attempt to secure the company’s assets that were inside the truck, locked the door, but the gunmen shot out the driver’s side window, fatally injuring him. Gabourel had been working at Caribbean Chicken for almost three years when the incident occurred. According to the manager, Gabourel was one of their best workers.
Manager, Caribbean Chicken: “Mr. Mark Gabourel was a really responsible person, a person that I could depend on in every area of the work and he was very responsible for the time that he worked with us. Sadly, he went to be with the Lord, but nevertheless, he was very, very responsible. For me as manager, I very often tell them, you know, cash and truck have no value beside your life. Whatever they want to take just give it in, make them take it. And Mr. Mark was one of that person that he had that in himself that he often told me, “Boss, if I have to give everything.” I told him give everything. And it sadly came to the point that they never request money, it’s just shot and it’s very sad for us. As a company and as a group, as a team, it really touch us hard. very hard in the sense that he was very responsible.”
Ljay Wade, Belmopan Correspondent: Targeting delivery trucks for cash appears to be among the crimes being reported with increasing frequency and this wasn’t Gabourel’s first time being targeted. But regardless of knowing the risks of driving a delivery truck, Gabourel opted to not travel with the licensed firearm. According to Gabourel’s sister, Fiona Jones, she had often urged him to leave the job for a safer line of work.
Fiona Jones, Sister: “This happened to him sometime last year. He did get held up somewhere in Tiger Town and fortunately nothing happened at that time. He only, I think they they did rob like $600 from him and every single day I would tell Mark quit that job you know get a different job, go to a call center or whatever is easier but he was really passionate about that job. He really loved it. He was an exemplary employee. He would go to work at 5:30 and he would be the last to leave. So he was a really, really dedicated employee.”
Ljay Wade, Belmopan Correspondent: What do you remember him telling you when you brought up that security concern?
Fiona Jones, Sister: “No, he would never. He can’t. His clients depended on him. His customers depended on him so much and he always, he was so reliable that he could not let them down. So that was the, well he really loved his job and I feel like my brother died a hero because you know when you love what you’re doing every day it doesn’t feel like a job.”
Ljay Wade, Belmopan Correspondent: Following the murder, attorney-at-law and longtime friend of Mark Gabourel, Arthur Saldivar, took to Facebook to chastise the slaying. In hopes of doing his part in trying to bring the perpetrators to justice, Saldivar took to the streets of Belmopan knocking on doors trying to ask residents if their home cameras captured anything that may be able to assist the police department.
Arthur Saldivar, Friend: “Mark Gabourel was to me a lifelong friend and he was one of those persons in the community that always lend a helping hand especially because he was less fortunate. He grew up a life of privilege, his father had a big business and despite that he was very humble. Later in life, he became a delivery truck driver but we are seeing that they are obviously being targeted, persons in that particular line of work. We are on the street where I understand the assailant made his escape, Garbutt Creek Street and a number of persons on this street have surveillance cameras, so we are hoping that those who would have captured the movement of the motorcycle with the persons who were on it would surrender that footage to the police and also make it available to the public so that the public can be a part of this investigation and assist the police in finding who actually did this.”
Fiona Jones, Sister: “He was an exemplary dad. He would take off his last shirt for them. He was very proud of them. He worked tirelessly to make sure that they had everything they needed. Mr. Mark was an honest, good man. Good person. Really, really good person. He was hardworking, honest, never getting in a fuss with anybody. He was a good dad, a good family member, a good brother. He was like my best friend, you know.”
Ljay Wade, Belmopan Correspondent: Gabourel leaves behind two children.
Gabourel leaves behind his two daughters, ages 18 and 19.
English (US) ·