Cayo Police are investigating a brazen home invasion that ended in gunfire and left a 68 year old businessman and owner of a major tourism attraction fighting for his life. The incident unfolded yesterday evening in the Dark Night area of Frank's Eddy Village, where armed men reportedly stormed a family home, tied up the homeowner's wife and terrorized his children. Jaleeza Roberts has more on this story:
Yesterday evening, when coming from school, the 9 year old son of Bradley Paumen was held at gun point and taken into his home. His mother told us via phone about the terror of seeing her son walk in with a stranger pointing a gun to his head:
Seline Paumen, Wife
"The gunman came and hold my son at gunpoint, brought them in the house, grabbed my gold chain from my neck, put we down, make we stay at ground, and noh move. They didn't duct tape me in the beginning. The kids were crying and screaming like kids normally would in that situation. He dropped my kids off, they came through our house and assaulted me and my kids first, grabbed my jewelry, stole everything, ransacked the house and then waited for him to come back. I do not know what transpired between him and the gentleman because they waited and they locked the door so Brad couldn't come inside. He was knocking on the door, and I guess these individuals didn't notice they locked the door cause they were waiting for him to come inside and after that I do not know what transpired between them and my husband, that's between whatever my husband said and them, I just know what me and my kids went through."
During the confrontation, the men demanded that Paumen give them the password to a safe inside the home. Paumen did so, but the suspects were unable to open it. One of the intruders then shot Paumen in the back. Despite being shot, Paumen attempted to defend himself, leading to a struggle with the suspects. Paumen told police that the gunman pointed the weapon at his head and attempted to fire again, but the firearm jammed. Since the incident, Site manager Benjamin Mas says security has doubled:
Benjamin Mas, Site Manager - Dark Night
"We have doubled up on security both at the front and the back, we have security 24/7 and we are in contact with the police and they're doing several patrols here more often. This is an isolated situation, it could happen anywhere on the road, anywhere so it doesn't affect the tours, it didn't happen on the tour side didn't happen anywhere close to the tours."
And Paumen's wife Seline rejected all rumors that the robbery was rooted from a land deal gone wrong:
Seline Paumen, Wife
"This was a robbery, these people targeted us and robbed us, they came and put a gun at my son's head, my daughter's head, my kids are only 9 and 5. You know what it is to have a 9 year old have a gun aimed at his head? And he's a sweet soul, he was making sure he was protecting his sister, he did everything they asked. He even blamed himself that it's his fault because he brought them upstairs, but they came after my kids, my kids are traumatized."
For now, no suspects have been detained and Paumen remains in stable condition at the Western Regional Hospital.
