Two gunmen pulled off a broad daylight armed robbery in downtown Belize City this morning. Tonight those two men are still on the run while the employees at Delta Store are badly shaken. 7NEWS was there shortly after it happened and Keith Swift has the story.
Female Employee #1,
"First it looked like a joke but afterwards when they pointed the gun at him it was really really serious."
It was anything but a joke inside Delta Store this morning. At about 11:15 two men wearing masks entered the store, walked up to the front desk and, without saying a word, one of them pulled out a gun and placed it at the neck of the store manager Suresh Belumala.
Suresh Belumala, Store Manager
"A man came in with a silver gun and he put it right here, (pointing at the back his neck), yeah to my neck. Then the next one jumped over this side and he went and took out all the money from the cash register."
The gunman's accomplice raided three hundred dollars from the cash register. He also took Belumala's cell phone and his wallet. They then turned to the female employees.
Female Employee #2,
"When I saw them come in, I was shocked, I was nervous and they just
asked me to open the cash register."
Female Employee #1,
"They took the cashier's earring and when they went out the earring dropped on the floor so actually she retrieved her earring at the end."
Female Employee #3,
"They tried to grab my ring but it never did come off."
The females say this morning was unlike anything they've ever experienced and they are just happy to be alive:
Female Employee #3,
"I was really scared. You feel like the whole world is on your shoulder, first time seeing a gun, you get cold---you feel bad."
Female Employee #1,
"Its just shocking, you don't have time to think about it and you just get nervous and shaky."
The store has a grill door which they don't use because they say it turns off customers and they also have a high tech surveillance camera system but it wasn't on this morning.
Suresh Belumala,
"See if we close the gate, how will the customer come in. We have to open the door so we cannot close it."
This isn't the first or the second time that delta Store has been robbed. So why are they targeted? Well employees believe there are three reasons: this first is hat they are the last store this side of Albert Street, secondly there is a lack of police presence, and the third, and maybe the most important one, they believe, is because they sit right at the mouth, or next to the mouth, of this alley.
Female Employee #3,
"We are the last store in this lane, Albert Street, and I think they need more protection for this side and there is the alley and the gangs from South Street."
It's a theory that only the police can prove and while they investigate, this store manager has one request to the bandits: he wants his sim card back.
Suresh Belumala,
"I want to ask them to give me my chip back its good."
Keith Swift,
You don't want back your phone?
Suresh Belumala,
"No phone, just the chip and so they can just send the chip." {Chuckles.]
A brief laughter after the terror that was visited upon them this morning.
Witnesses say that the men rode "up stop" on South Street and then turned onto Albert street. Police say they have no suspects and press officer G. Michael Reid told us the store should re-assess their security measures.
