Lucky Strike, Belize District , Thurs. July 24, 2008 - A suspected affair by an ex-lover turned deadly yesterday as two men now lie in the KHMH morgue awaiting post-mortems. The tragedy unfolded in the village of Lucky Strike on the old Northern Highway, and by the time it was over Terrence Herbert, a 43 year old father of three lay dead by his own hand. Jermaine Jones, a 28 year old labourer of Lucky Strike, lay in a pool of blood just a couple miles away, shot by Herbert before he turned a gun on himself.

Jermaine Jones

The woman in the middle of what has been referred to as a ‘love triangle’ is Eladia Che, who had lived with Herbert for some time and had a child with him. She claims that she was estranged from Herbert, and only the night before had gone with him and moved all her clothes from his house to hers. She flatly refuted allegations that she had been involved with Jermaine Jones. She claims that they had only ‘talked.’

The incident which resulted in two deaths occurred around 12:50pm. Jermaine Jones was on his bicycle riding home to Lucky Strike on his lunch break. Preliminary investigations reveal that Terrence Herbert, also on a bicycle, rode up to him and an altercation ensued. That altercation led to Herbert pulling his 16 gauge shotgun and blowing Jones away.

Terrence Herbert

When Police responded that scene between miles 39 and 40 miles on the old Northern Highway, they found Jones lying lifeless in the middle of the road next to his bicycle.

Terrence Herbert then allegedly rode back home to Rockstone Pond. Investigations reveal that Herbert’s brother Elvis Gotoy saw him with the shotgun, at which point he says Herbert told him that he didn’t mean to kill Jones. Gotoy claims that he took away the gun from Herbert, and when he went to put it up, he heard another gunshot. Herbert had retrieved another 16 gauge shotgun and had killed himself.

When Police arrived on the scene in Rockstone Pond, they found the body of Herbert lying motionless on the ground.

Both bodies were transported to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital where they await post mortem examinations. Police are treating the case as an open and shut murder-suicide.

Eladia Che