Copyright greaterbelize
Ryan Hyde Dies After Cotton Tree Shooting; Family Awaits Answers A weekend shooting has ended in heartbreak. On Monday night, thirty-two-year-old Ryan Hyde lost his fight for life at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. Hyde was shot in the head last Friday in Cotton Tree Village, a brutal attack that left his family praying for a miracle. He was first rushed to the Western Regional Hospital, then transferred to KHMH for specialized care. But despite doctors’ efforts, Hyde didn’t make it. Tonight, his loved ones are devastated and searching for answers. News Five’s Britney Gordon has the full story. Britney Gordon, Reporting Friday night in Cotton Tree Village was shattered by the sound of gunfire, a single shot that sent panic rippling through the small community. That bullet struck thirty-two-year-old Ryan Hyde in the head, leaving him fighting for his life. Just days later, his family’s worst fears were realized when Hyde passed away from his injuries. Tonight, his loved ones are heartbroken and searching for answers. His sister, Christie Bonell, says they still don’t know what really happened that night. Christie Bonell, Sister of Deceased “Shocking to get the news of my baby brother getting shot and also not knowing the state he was in. My mom, this is the second child that she lost, not took on violence, but I had a brother that previously passed via automobile accident. It’s really hard and to come to grips that just come yesterday, he was sitting up and we thought that he was gonna go home today and then to find out that he passed away last night. As soon as my mom left the hospital, it’s really got wrenching really hard for us to even put our minds or thoughts around embracing that he’s gone.” According to Bonell, the family was aware that Hyde had been badly injured but did not anticipate him dying just a few days later. Christie Bonell “Initially from the start we knew it was way past grazed. As I said, social media and the media houses and police tend to run with news that I don’t know where they actually gathered these information. But it was never a graze from the start. We knew the extent of the damage. We did not think that he was gonna die.” Ryan Hyde’s death is part of a heartbreaking pattern for his family. Over the years, the Hydes have endured unimaginable loss, with several relatives killed in gang-related shootings. Many will remember the 2015 murder of Russell Hyde and his girlfriend in Camalote, a tragedy that came during a year when at least eleven family members were gunned down. And just a few years later, Clifford Hyde and his daughter, Anya Galvez, were shot in Young Bank. It’s a story of violence that seems never-ending, and one that Ryan’s sister, Christie Bonell, wishes he could have escaped. She believes her brother was targeted for one reason, his last name. Christie Bonell “The only thing that I could go on, as I mentioned to you earlier, is the stigma that is surrounded with the Hyde last name. The credibility is not given to that last name because we carry the Hyde last name, they tend to just stigmatize us. We don’t have a room. We don’t have anything to come off of that saying that, you know what, with that last name, we’re just blatantly branded as bad a gun drugs. We don’t have the ability to come from under that banner and even with the news coming out of his passing, there’s news media houses that’s promoting or seeing that it’s gang war or turf war or drugs, war and stuff like that. And to our knowledge as a family, there’s nothing of that sort that we have any idea that’s behind this shooting.” The family shared that their grief has been intensified as speculations surrounding the circumstances of Hyde’s death circulate online. She recalls her brother as a kind-hearted family man who turned every family gathering into a party. Christie Bonell “ He’s a very jovial person. There’s not a moment that anyone can say, being around Ryan is not fun. He is not loving. He’s not kind, he’s not engaging. Me standing up here and talking with a straight face. All I can think about is the good time and how we actually work as a family. He’s the baby of the bunch and he was loved more than everyone else in the family.” Ryan Hyde dreamed of opening a meat shop, a way to keep providing for his wife and two young sons. But now, those plans will never come to life. Amid their grief, his family is left to lean on each other for strength and support. Christie Bonell “My brother has two sons, so whoever took his life took a father from his two boys. So I have two loving nephews that we need to break the news to and explain to them how someone took their dad’s life away from us.” As of now, no arrest has been made for the murder and the family awaits the results of the post-mortem to proceeding with funeral arrangements. Britney Gordon for News Five.
