A trio of Belize City residents had to use desperate measures to escape from a pair of gun wielding robbers on Saturday morning.
32-year-old Reynaldo Verde told 7NEWS that at about midnight on Friday going into Saturday he pulled up at the Chinese store at the corner of Victoria Street and Barrack Road to buy a cigarette. That's where he met three friends whose car had broken down. Verde tried to help them, but couldn't and was about to give them a ride home when one young man walked up and ordered Verde's friend to hand over his cell phone. Another young man than ran up and snatched the chain of the girl who was with them.
With that Verde dashed to get into his vehicle and told his friend to get in. But just as he did that, one off the robbers, who was standing just behind the car, started firing at the car. Verde says he had no choice and no way to make him stop shooting so he reversed and knocked him down. He started driving forward to speed out, and that's when another young man started shooting from the front, shooting out one of the tires. Still, somehow Verde and his friends managed to escape albeit on a flat front tire while the vehicle had 5 bullet holes.
Police found one of the suspected gunmen, the one who got knocked down, at the KHMH with a deep gash to his shin area. He is under guard and is expected to be charged when he is released. The other gunman is still at large.