And while Mitchell lost his two vehicles, one Austrian ex-pat had his boat stolen. Indeed, it's been a harrowing weekend for Christian Gigi Gusenbauer. That's after a Friday night attack on his Lark Caye range resort that left him shot to the buttocks. It happened at about 6:45 when 4 armed men approached his home and fired at him through a window.
And, then in a sequence straight out of Hollywood, Gusenbauer had to duck and roll through a hail of bullets to make it to his bedroom where he barricaded himself behind a door and mattress. And while neither of those barriers protected him from the gunshot wound he sustained, they certainly saved his life.
Still it's an ordeal that many wouldn't have lived through with Gusenbauer's first-hand account describing the screams of the shooters as they fired round after round leaving him terrified and standing in quote, a "Lake of his own blood". Now, there are once again worries for both tourism and Belizean property markets which often take a dive after a terrible incident such as this. But Gusenbauer has lived to tell the tale and that's due in part to the people of Placencia village and a spirit of community that reached out to save a life. Cherisse Halsall reports.
It's quite a life for Christian Gigi Gusenbauer, an Austrian retiree and resort operator in the Lark Caye Range who most days is treated to views like this.
But all that nearly changed on Friday night when Christian was forced to barricade himself inside his home daring to peep through shattered glass at the gunmen who had come to rob and perhaps kill him.
It's at this point that most people would call the police but "Gigi" as he's known in Placencia made a social media cry for help.
His first post said "Help I get shot" Followed by "I'm shot " And then Police and as desperation sets in he asks whether anyone was coming.
And it was possibly at that very moment, in the midst of a Friday night's quiet dinner that Chabil Mar manager Chris Rothing saw Gigi's posts.
Christo Swanepoel, Placencia Resident
"I was working late and my friend Christopher Rothing came running down from the restaurant upstairs and we called and then we confirmed that it was indeed true that he had been shot."
"It was a really scary situation, the sea was really rough and we were all soaked including the police officers when we got there and that boat captain was an absolute rockstar."
"When we got there I shined a flashlight into his bedroom window and we saw him alive in there so that was the biggest sigh of relief."
"His perspective that he said to me, is if he had contacted one person directly he'd of had to wait for one person that might or might not have been available, he said the quickest way to get a response was to go to Facebook on his own page because he's friends with everybody, and he's such a nice person. So everybody got it immediately so instead of him having to wait for a specific person to contact him he knew that the entire village would be on this immediately."
Kimberley Viner, Placencia Resident
"I think it was one bullet that shattered into 20 something pieces and they were only able to remove some of the pieces in surgery."
It's an injury that put's Gusenbauer on a bumpy road to recovery, still he's lucky to be alive. And this morning the Commissioner called him a brave soul and also commended his rescuers.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"I will commend Mr. Christian himself for being the brave soul he is, I believe that what he did largely contributed to him saving his own life in terms of going into the bathroom locking himself and that he was still able to go on social media despite his injury and share his experience with the world and so we were able to get that information and then to the police officers who responded, the sea was extremely rough that night and the citizens that assisted the police in getting out there despite the roughness of the sea. I think we owe them a great deal of gratitude."
Christo Swanepoel
"I wasn't alone. I called all of my friends and all of them stepped up and everybody did their own part. I've lived in a few countries all over the world, and I have been to a few countries and I have never seen a community pulled together like that. The feeling of everything is going to be okay, living here in Placencia comradery between locals and expats and that was really humbling."
The Cops say that at this point they're looking for named suspects.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"In terms of addressing the whole issue of sea piracy we just last week we conducted a number of operations in the south geared at going after these persons who we believe are involved in sea piracy."
Christo Swanepoel, Placencia Resident
"Placencia is not only the peninsula, Placencia is also all of the little islands that we have out here and all of the boat captains that we have on the water, and all of the people, the tourists that we have out on the water and at this point a community effort together with the backing with the government I think it's very very possible for us to put that together and I think that is what needs to be focused on."
Jules Vasquez:
"Where was the coast guard on Friday night, why weren't they the first responders?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"You would know that the Coast Guard base is all the way in Hunting Caye and I believe there is another one on South Water Caye, those 2 locations were hours away from where Mr. Christian was at the time, so saving a life was of essence. If we have waited for the coast guard it would have taken too long."
But in all the joy over Gigi's rescue and seemingly successful recovery we can't forget the heart of the story, that's Gigi's dog Mali, who at the time of his rescue was thought dead.
Christo Swanepoel, Placencia Resident
"I had a suspicion that the dog was not dead because if they had shot the dog we would have found the body, so when we didn't find the body that actually gave us hope that Mali was alive and then when we went back the following morning that was confirmed."
Jason Westby, Placencia resident/ Dog Rescuer
"I didn't know the dog was alive. I assumed the dog was dead after his information, so I was heading out with a shovel literally to hopefully to find the dog's body and bury it. When I got there a boat just come out of the spot after they found out what happened. Then the police was there at the same time, they came up the same time so the dog just stayed in the mangrove. I stood around the police and I told them that will not leave without the dog and they were okay with that and when they left the dog came and sit by the door. The dog came right out of the mangroves and went to sit by the door, the owners door and he wouldn't move."
Mali is currently staying with her former family.
The men who shot Gusenbauer also robbed him of an undisclosed amount of cash. The cops say that based on some of the expended shells that were retrieved from the scene he was attacked with 9-millimeter pistols.
Gusenbauer's boat was later found abandoned near Hopkins but was missing its engine.
