And while police shot that flailing machetero, a civilian shot a young man who had just pulled off a robbery. The drama unfolded around 8:40 on Saturday night outside the Galaxy Supermarket on Gwen Lizarraga Street in the Belama Phase Two area. The store’s security guard was on duty when he was approached by a masked man who pointed a black handgun at him.
He was then hustled inside the establishment and ordered to lie on the floor. Then two more masked armed men entered and held up the store’s proprietor behind the counter. As the security guard was searched and relieved of his cell phone and wallet, the other gunmen went through the cash register and stole four hundred dollars in cash plus 500 dollars worth of BTL and Smart phone cards. The robbers then ran out, firing a shot at a customer as they fled. That customer responded by pulling out his personal firearm and shooting several times at the trio.
It is believed the bullet made its mark because as the two other armed robbers ran off the third suspect dropped to the ground but he managed to get up and run out into some bushes near to the Northern Highway.
At the crime scene police recovered fourteen nine millimeter expended shells and a black peak cap. Some ten hours later they were called out to an area in Belama phase two just behind the Biltmore Plaza. There in the swamp, police found eighteen year old Cardinal Welch who is believed to have been the gunman. Welch was lying in the swamp suffering from a gunshot wound to his left lower leg near his ankle.
Welch was taken to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital where he remains in a stable condition under police guard.
