An American family from the state of Arizona fled Belize in fear this morning after their vacation beach house at a leading resort on the Placencia Peninsula was invaded by 4 masked and armed assailants.
It's the kind of nightmare scenario that no vacationer ever wants to experience - and certainly not the kind of thing that the Tourism Board wants to even contemplate in the height of a robust high season. But, it happened and tonight Cherisse Halsall has that story from the Placencia peninsula.
This morning at around 12:50 AM - 4 armed robbers came across this beach police got a call about 4 armed robbers who had invaded a beach house at Sirenian Bay Resort. They commanded the guests to the floor and tied up an 18-year-old who was among them.
Quick police response led to a shootout with the robbers:
Chester Williams, Commissioner Of police
"Initial investigation later revealed that four persons, two armed with firearms and two armed with edge tools, entered the beach house where some tourists were staying and were questioning them about the owners of the house and money. Nothing was stolen other than a cell phone because while that was happening that was when the police arrived and so the police have disrupted them from carried out what they wanted to do. We are looking for a particular suspect at this time to see if that person will be able to give us some information or lead that could take us in making some arrests in respect of that matter."
"Upon police arrival. They observed two male persons standing in front of a beach house. Those persons were approached by police and immediately upon doing so they fired a series of shots at the police, the police returned fire and the persons ran along the beach, they were again pursued by the police during which time more shots were fired by the police, by them and the police returning fire. Nobody was injured during the exchange of gunfire."
The question now is where the men came from. Reports from the area are that they were heard screaming "run for your life" shortly before a boat engine was heard leaving the beach.
But could these assailants have come from the neighbouring village of Seine Bight? Here's what the chairman told our team today:
Cherisse Halsall:
"Now, they didn't flee the scene toward Seine Bight, they fled away from it, what does that tell you about whether or not these perpetrators could be from this village?"
Jose Aleman, Chairperson, Seine Bight Village
"Well, it would be premature for me to say so but according to breaking News again, they said that they fled by boat. Um, in our community I wouldn't be able to say that we have a lot of boats here, right, There are a few boats here` and these boats we know who the owners are and the magnitude of them getting involved in those types of crimes would be little to none. So, it would be premature again to say if they were from Seine Bight and if they are not."
Chester Williams, Commissioner Of police
"There is not a trend and so I cannot say that it's a new mode. Its the first and only one we have seen in that area. These are random acts that would normally occur. We do have a suspect in mind that we are looking at and I am hoping that we would be able to find that person very soon. While these persons were being pursued by the police on the beach, they were able to get inside a skiff and they took off. So they came on board a vessel and they left on that same vessel. So we are also looking to see where we can find that vessel that was use in this latest act."
The Commissioner of police says that police will be taking specific measures to protect this coastline. He also notes the rapid response of the police who stopped the crime in progress.
