{{short description|Belizean businessman and murder victim}} {{Infobox person | name = Alfred Schakron | image = | caption = | birth_name = Fouad Schakron | birth_date = {{birth date|1961|6|6|df=y}} | birth_place = Sidon District, Lebanon | death_date = {{death date and age|2012|10|24|1961|6|6|df=y}} | death_place = Belize City, Belize | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | other_names = | known_for = | education = | employer = | occupation = | title = | height = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | boards = | spouse = Yolanda Schakron (divorced) | partner = | children = 2 | parents = | relatives = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }}

'''Fouad "Alfred" Schakron''' ({{langx|ar|فؤاد شكرون}}; 6 June 1961 – 24 October 2012) was a Belizean businessman and the ex-husband of People's United Party political hopeful Yolanda Schakron. He was murdered in broad daylight outside a Belize City gym, leaving police mystified as to the motive or the identity of the killers.<ref name="Amandala20121025">{{cite news|url=http://amandala.com.bz/news/death-waited-coney-drive/|first=Albert J.|last=Ciego|title=Death waited on Coney Drive|work=Amandala|date=2012-10-26|accessdate=2012-10-28}}</ref><ref name="News520080425">{{cite news|url=http://edition.channel5belize.com/archives/4979|title=Former Area Rep and his driver charged with Theft|work=News 5 Belize|date=2008-04-25|accessdate=2012-10-28}}</ref>

==Biography== Shakroun was born and raised in Sidon District, Lebanon. He came from a large family of nine people, among whom he was one of six who chose to emigrate from Lebanon.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.lbcgroup.tv/news/58210/report-lebanese-nationals-murdered-overseas-under|title=Lebanese nationals murdered overseas under mysterious conditions|work=LBC International|date=2012-10-31|accessdate=2013-06-03}}</ref> He came to Belize in the mid-1990s, and had lived there for 16 years by the time of his death.<ref name="Amandala20121025"/> He was involved in a variety of businesses. He owned J.E.C. Pawnshop, and was also co-owner along with Joseph Marinan of Belize's MegaBingo.<ref name="News520080425"/><ref name="News520110325">{{cite news|url=http://edition.channel5belize.com/archives/51542|title=Aunt of former game show host says sexual harassment is real|work=News 5 Belize|date=2011-03-25|accessdate=2012-04-18}}{{Dead link|date=February 2026 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}</ref> He was astute at business and achieved financial success, enabling him to live in a three-storey mansion in Buttonwood Bay with two maids.<ref name="News520080425"/>

In 2007, Schakron was involved in a land deal gone bad, in which he apparently paid BZ$575,000 to Jose Coye in order to purchase land at Newtown Barrack Road. Allegedly, the government of Belize sold the land to Coye for BZ$20,000, while Coye pocketed the difference. Schakron alleged that Coye's driver later returned BZ$300,000 to Schakron, but that the balance of BZ$275,000 was not returned. Schakron made a complaint to police about the matter, which led to both Coye and his driver being charged with theft and obtaining property by deception.<ref name="News520080425"/> The charges against the two were dismissed in July 2008.<ref name="Amandala20100305">{{cite news|url=http://amandala.com.bz/news/i-dont-believe-joe-justice-legall/|first=Adele|last=Ramos|title='I don't believe {{bracket|Joe}}': Justice Legall|work=Amandala|date=2010-03-05|accessdate=2012-10-28}}</ref> Coye later retained lawyers Elson Kaseke and Anthony Sylvestre and filed suit against Schakron for malicious prosecution in relation to the incident. Schakron was defended by Rodwell Williams. The matter came before Justice Oswell Legall, who in 2010 ruled against Coye and ordered him to pay Schakron's legal costs.<ref name="Amandala20100305"/><ref>{{cite court|url=http://www.belizelaw.org/supreme_court/judgements/Legall/COYE%20V.%20%20SCHAKRON.pdf|litigants=Jose Coye v Alfred Schakron|court=Supreme Court of Belize|date=2010-03-10|accessdate=2012-10-28}}</ref> Legall stated that he did not believe Coye's statements and was furthermore concerned about the chilling effect the case might have on private citizens reporting potentially unlawful activity to the police.<ref name="Amandala20100305"/>

In 2011, a relative of Schakron's who worked at MegaBingo made allegations of sexual harassment, leading to the departure from Belize of Schakron's business partner Joseph Marinan; Schakron indicated in media comments that the views Marinan had expressed about the incident were his own and did not represent the company's opinion.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://edition.channel5belize.com/archives/51775|title=Mega Bingo is still the game|work=News 5 Belize|date=2011-03-30|accessdate=2012-10-28}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://edition.channel5belize.com/archives/51736|title=Where did you go Mega Bingo Joe?|work=News 5 Belize|date=2011-03-29|accessdate=2012-10-28}}</ref>

Schakron was formerly married to Yolanda Schakron, with whom he had two children, but then divorced.<ref name="News520110325"/> He later remarried.<ref name="Amandala20121025"/>

==Death== On the morning of 24 October 2012, Schakron went to the Body 2000 Gym on Coney Drive in Belize City for a morning workout.<ref name="Amandala20121025"/> According to witnesses, at 9:30 as Schakron exited the gym, a black Ford Escape turned the corner from Princess Margaret Drive at high speed and stopped in front of him.<ref name="Amandala20121025"/><ref name="News720121025">{{cite news|url=http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=23756|title=Police Have No Leads, No Motive In Schakron Murder|work=7 News Belize|date=2012-10-25|accessdate=2012-10-28}}</ref> The gunman alighted and had a conversation or argument with Schakron in a foreign language, possibly Arabic.<ref name="Amandala20121025"/><ref name="News720121025"/> He then shot Schakron four times in the neck, chest, and left side, wounding him fatally, and returned to his vehicle which sped off down Coney Drive. Three men came along in another vehicle, inspected Schakron's body, and then drove away as well. Schakron was taken to Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital across the street, but was declared dead on arrival.<ref name="Amandala20121025"/> His body was buried in the town of Irkay in Lebanon.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2012/Nov-01/193452-three-lebanese-men-killed-in-mexico.ashx|title=Three Lebanese men killed in Mexico|work=The Daily Star|date=2012-11-01|accessdate=2013-06-03}}</ref>

Schakron was the second man of Lebanese extraction to be murdered in Belize City in the space of less than a day, a fact made all the more remarkable because there are only 240 Lebanese people residing in Belize.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=23746|title=Aziz Dib Was Shot Five Times|work=7 News Belize|date=2012-10-24|accessdate=2012-10-28}}</ref> Police had no immediate leads or motive for the murder.<ref name="News720121025"/> Minister of National Security John Saldivar stated that Schakron's killing did not seem to fit into the general pattern of the ongoing crime wave in Belize, and suggested that both Schakron and Dib might have been targeted specifically.<ref name="News720121025"/>

With no partners or experienced personnel immediately available to take over management duties, Schakron's businesses went into temporary shutdowns so that his family could have time to mourn. Mega Bingo first announced a temporary hiatus and then stated in an advertisement that it would close "until further notice"; J.E.C. Pawn Shop also stated that it would be closed.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://edition.channel5belize.com/archives/77492|title=Megabingo will not air on Wednesday in memoriam of owner's murder|work=News 5 Belize|date=2012-10-24|accessdate=2012-11-12}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=23846|title=Schakron's Businesses in Disarray|work=7 News Belize|date=2012-11-05|accessdate=2012-11-12}}</ref>

==See also== * List of unsolved murders in Belize

==References== {{reflist|30em}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schakron, Alfred}} Category:1961 births Category:2012 deaths Category:2012 murders in North America Category:Belizean businesspeople Category:Belizean murder victims Category:Deaths by firearm in Belize Category:Lebanese emigrants to Belize Category:Lebanese people murdered abroad Category:People from Sidon District Category:People murdered in Belize Category:Unsolved murders in Belize