And while Teakettle is getting over their scare, further west in the Cayo District, the threat assessment is not so favourable because of a group or groups of armed men responsible for a number of armed home invasions dating back to August.
The most recent one happened this weekend and two elderly people were the victims. 77 year old Joseph Tulcey, a farmer of Cool Shade in the Mountain Pine Ridge was at home with his wife, 75 year old Enid on Saturday morning at 7:00 when seven masked Hispanic men stormed in wearing full camouflage. A police report says their clothing was similar to BDF uniforms and they were armed with machine guns, to the types used by the BDF.
They told Tulcey that they will be searching the house for drugs and locked him up in one of the bedrooms. Two of the men stayed watch outside, while five conducted the search. Reports are that they proceeded to drill the floors of the two bedrooms and bathroom, turned over the beds and rummaged through the drawers.
The search went on up until around noon but no drugs were found. Still, the men stole a thousand dollars in cash, assorted jewelry, the house key and for good measure the car battery. The couple was ordered them to stay in the room for an hour. It's a terrifying event - at least the fifth armed home invasion in Cayo and surrounding areas since August and the official report blandly says the Police investigation continues.
We note that of these five armed home invasions we know of, police have only reported two. One occurred in San Ignacio in August, two in Esperanza in October, One in central farm in October and now this one in the Pine Ridge Area in November. In all cases, there have been multiple numbers of masked men, but the weapons and outfits vary.
