Tonight, a pair of Mennonite farmers are probably having a discussion with their insurance agent after their 2014 Toyota Hilux was targeted by thieves last night.
Hilux's - which fetch a high value in Guatemala - are often targeted, and this time the thieves had guns, but it seems, not much common sense to go with that.
Jules Vasquez reports on the bumbling Hilux hijackers:
This is the Agua Viva road at mile 49 on the Hummingbird Highway where last night at 8:00 armed bandits descended on two brothers, cattle farmers Aaron and Jericho Pershing.
Jericho spoke to the press today - his face carrying the wounds after being accosted by the robbers while they were fixing a water pipe:
Jericho Pershing, Victim - Aggravated Robbery
"We were just about done and then I turned my back and I see like four men they walk there, but for first glance I think they look like BDF."
In fact they were robbers, with a 9 millimeter pistol and a pump shotgun:
Jericho Pershing, Victim - Aggravated Robbery
"They come and make us lay down flat on the ground and knock us a lot and make us tell them where we have our Hilux key. They look for the key and they never find it. They come back and they tell us we lie to them and they're gonna kill us one time If we don't tell them where the key is they're gonna kill us one time. So I explain them good where the key in the truck is."
One of them men found the key and raced off in the 2014 Hilux, leaving his accomplices behind:
Jericho Pershing, Victim - Aggravated Robbery
"The guys, they don't know what happened, because he never told them what he was doing. They say the guy left them throwaway, so they got a little bit nervous and like that a few minutes they took off running the way they came from and he took the truck and went away, so they went that way and the truck gone that way."
And when they ran off in confusion - that's when Pershing got free:
Jericho Pershing, Victim - Aggravated Robbery
"They had me tied up but I kind of loose so I get out I run from my house as quick as I could and luckily they never got in my house because they never find my firearm. So I grabbed my firearm and I come out and I directly burst some shots so they realized we were ready so they don't come back again."
And that may have rattled the escaping truck-thief - because he crashed their Hilux into a tree not far away and escaped.
ACP. Hilberto Romero, OCED
"Thereafter they saw vehicle return, Pershing went into his house and we retrieved a rifle and fired a single shot towards the vehicle after which the vehicle crashed into a palm tree. The four occupants managed to escape from the vehicle and fled into the bushes."
The brothers are asking for the public's help in apprehending the crew:
Jericho Pershing, Victim - Aggravated Robbery
"You know something we would appreciate very much if you would let the police know and we hope very much that they get caught."
Content for that story came from our colleagues at PLUS TV.
So far, police have no suspects detained. Pershing said he saw some men scooting around on a motorcycle right before the robbery - and now figures they were scouring the area.
