There was a messy shootout and armed assault in the San Martin area of Belmopan last night that has left two civilians with gunshot injuries, two others with machete injuries, and a policeman also with machete injuries. It started at about 9:30 when a police patrol team in San Martin came across a man with his hands bleeding. They went to arrest those who had done it to him but the police were confronted by an aggressive family.
Supt. Aaron Guzman, OIC - Belmopan Police
“Around 8:45 pm a patrol from the Belmopan Police was out there, 4 officers; one driving, another one upfront and two in the back. They were in a blue Dmax, clearly marked “Police.” They were all in police working dress. They were stopped by a male and a female. The male seemingly had blood on one of his hands and he reported that he was chopped by some other persons and he indicated to the police officers that he knew who had chopped him and where they live which was a little ways on the same street they were on. The officers in turn drove over to the would be accusee’s residence along with the complainant.
When they got there the driver stayed in the vehicle, the complainant stood outside along with the female. One officer went to the door and the other officers went one on each side of the building. PC Roches and another officer went around back. At the back of the building, the house, there is a kitchen. Upon approaching the kitchen, PC Roches was attacked and chopped by one individual, one relative. Roches had with him at that time an issued pump action shotgun and he used that pump action shotgun to shield himself. In so doing the chop only caught him on the right side of his face, just at the corner of the eye. He was treated and released at the Belmopan Hospital. His injuries were certified as wounding.
However when he was chopped he fell to the ground and that person came to chop Roches, was in the motion of chopping Roches again and the other officer who had a rifle said to the person freeze but he continued and so that person was shot. When he was shot he stopped and the other relative, his father, then came with a machete, another machete, seemingly to chop Roches. The officer shouted at him and got his attention and he turned to that officer and advanced towards him and would not heed to the orders of the officer to stop. And so that officer had to shoot the second person who is the officer.
When this occurred by this time the officer who approached the door and come around and the driver had got out of the vehicle, all four police officers came around. They got Roches and the two injured persons to take them to the front to get them into the vehicle to take them to the hospital and this is when a third individual, brother of the first person and son of the second person that was shot, he took one of the machete that was on the ground and then chased the gentleman that initially stopped the police vehicle. So the police officer who was the driver took Roches’ firearm and chased behind him and fired a shot over his head, a warning shot and freezed him. He was detained and also put in the vehicle and brought to the police station. So that is another assault that occurred on the initial virtual complainant.
So we have the virtual complainant whose injuries were classified as wounding, Roches’ injuries were classified as wounding and the first relative, the first son that was shot, he is in the Belmopan Hospital in a stable condition. He was shot in the left upper shoulder. The father was shot from the right side, apparently from the right side, right shoulder and it went across to the left side.”
The two men shot by police were hit with an AR-15 rifle – a high powered assault rifle – so they are lucky to be alive. One of them, the father, in whom the bullet travelled across his chest was in critical condition last night but he is not listed as stable.
