And while, Joel Aguilar is hospitalized for those severe injuries, Luis Tun, a resident of San Pedro, has been bed-ridden after he was shot at his business place in the San Mateo area.
The 35-year-old was inside his establishment, the Clumpsy Restaurant and Bar. He was standing behind the bar counters serving customers, when a gunman, dressed in full black, entered. That assailant walked toward him, quickly pulled out a gun, and fired several shots at him.
Those injuries are now threatening his health, and his ability to walk, and today, he granted us a telephone interview to ask Belizeans to help him afford important medical treatment in Merida. Here's that interview:
Voice of: Luis Tun, Shooting Victim
"All I could remember there was probably like 16 customers inside. I was serving and I was busy, so when I opened the beers and I looked at front then I saw somebody just start shooting me, so what I could remember the first shot I got that's when I felt down, but I thought I got shot in my leg, but it was my abdomen. But at the same time, I was falling down, this guy never stop shooting me. So I received like 4 shots in my stomach and 2 in my left hand which I have a broken finger and the other one is okay. So, I never understood why I felt down. They took me out of the bar and rushed me to the clinic. They had to open me 2 times, so after the second time that's when the doctor came and explained to me what happened to me and why I can't move my foot, because I have 2 bullets on my spine. We got the chance to go to Merida, but that was last week and 2 days I was with tests, with machines and well they found out I have 3 bullets inside me. Karl Heusner only found 2 and at Merida they found out that I have 3. And then I ask them how much it will cost me and it's a lot of money. They say that it will be from $180,000-220,000 Pesos. So that's basically rounded off like $22,000 Belize. After I take the surgery, I need a long time therapy for me to be able to walk again."
Reporter
"But there is a chance that you could walk again?"
Voice of: Luis Tun, Shooting Victim
"There is a chance that I could walk again, yes."
His family has some fundraising events scheduled for this weekend, and they are hoping that the general public will support them. He also took the opportunity to clear the record. He told us that there are rumors that he was targeted because of drugs, but he categorically denied that:
Voice of: Luis Tun, Shooting Victim
"There is a lot of rumors going on right now which I have heard from friends that this what happened to me is because I am involved in drugs, that I owe people drugs which is all a lie, because I am a guy that really for myself. I do electrical, I do AC, I do plumbing - I try take advantage of the day every single minute to do something, because I really wanted to grow and established 2-4 businesses in San Pedro. It doesn't matter how hard If I stay with a dollar a day to eat, but I wanted my business to grow. That was my vision with my wife. But people are talking that it's because I owe people because of drugs, which is a total lie."
