A daring daylight armed robbery attempt with gunmen locked, loaded and lethal...on any other night it would have been a headline, not only because of its news value, but because this attempted jacking shows that the scale and pitch of armed violence is escalating.
Two employees of shell one stop who were on their way to make a deposit at the First Caribbean Bank North Side branch in Belize City, made a dashing escape from a deadly ambush on Saturday morning. Waiting for them were three men who had their sight on a cash catch of somewhere between $40 and $50 thousand of Shell 1-Stop's money.
Alfonso Noble today spoke with the security guard and he explained how he got out alive.
Alfonso Noble Reporting,
At around 6:45 on Saturday morning, J & B security guard 21 year old Mario Sho was along with Shell 1-Stop assistant manager Luis Martin when they arrived at the First Caribbean Bank 24-hour service to make a deposit of the convenience store's Friday sales. Sho told us that the trip up Central American Boulevard to the Sav-u plaza was uneventful and could not have prepared them for the orchestrated attack that lay in wait for them.
Mario Sho, Security Guard
"As we parked the vehicle a car just pulled up to us and as the driver looked to step out, he said watch and I said what and the guys just started to fire shots. They fired about six shots-the driver was the one who got hit first and I didn't know if I got hit."
"There were three guys, because the driver and then two were at the back door. There were in a gray Toyota with taxi license plate but it happened so fast that we didn't get the license plate. It happened so quick that when they started to fire at us we had to quickly leave the place and plus they had on a mask so we couldn't identify them."
And they were unable to identify the vehicle that the robbers were in because driver Luis Martin sped out of the Sav-u lot to escape the gunfire. He was shot in the side and sideman Sho was shot to the left shoulder. But they are lucky to be alive; the pickup truck shows 8 bullet holes, which is proof that these robbers were ready to shoot first and ask questions later. Looking Sho sees that it was a full out ambush.
Mario Sho, Robbery Victim
"The way how I see it, the guys were waiting in the compound because my usual thing is that I watch carefully before I do anything and there was no vehicle behind us. Definitely they were waiting for us right there, probably somebody told them it was our usual route and they were waiting for us in the compound."
But that is left to be determined and right now, Sho is glad that the robbers did not take either the money or their lives.
Mario Sho, Robbery Victim
"This security job the way how I see it everyday you have to expect what is unexpected. Everyday you have to expect it."
"Thank God nothing serious happened. The next guy has been released and like I said I thank God for everything cause I got hit but I am not in the hospital and praise God for that. It's part of the job and I'll be back on duty as soon as I feel good."
Police are looking for three suspects that are yet to be identified.