Two men were shot to death and two more, including one of the subcontractors, were injured by security guards at the Chalillo dam Friday night.
Tonight the unofficial story from the security guards is that was allegedly in self-defense. Due to communication difficulties, details out of Cayo are sketchy but we have been able to confirm that the four men, including Arturo Wang who is the subcontractor, were shot by the dam's security personnel after a confrontation at the dam site. Around 11 a security guard at the dam reported a disturbance by two allegedly intoxicated men at the site. One of the men was detained by security while the other fled. He however later allegedly returned with a group of about 20 men who then charged after the team of 3 security guards who fired warning shots. Arturo Wang was hit in his calf while one of his workers Salvador Perez was hit in the left arm. While the crowd then initially backed up our information, which again is uncorroborated, is that the group later returned and that's when the guards had no choice but to fire again. Those shots killed Santos Canelles and Vicente Garcia.
The incident happened on Friday night and police didn't respond to the scene until early Saturday morning. Belize Electric Company, BECOL, a Fortis Company which owns the site today confirmed the shooting. Their public relations office however noted that the shooting occurred after midnight when the generator was off and the site should have been dark. BECOL had no dealings directly with the subcontractor and now shooting victim Arturo Wang because he was hired by Sino-hydro. Perez is in a hospital in Belize City while Wang is at the Belmopan Hospital. The security company meanwhile defended the actions of their guards saying the area has been become a trouble spot as their guards have had to stop drug trafficking and other illegal activities in the area.