Yesterday we told you about the second person to be killed in rural Orange Walk in 26 hours.
He is 42 year old Roberto Villafranco, a delivery man for Zeta. He was gunned down while making a delivery in Chan Pine Ridge yesterday evening and his sideman was shot in the process.
While initial speculations suggested robbery, the route supervisor explained that a strange call came in before the shooting, and the delivery men usually don't have a lot of cash. Our colleagues at CTV3 spoke with him and Courtney Menzies has this story.
42 year old Roberto Villafranco was killed while delivering water yesterday in Chan Pine Ridge Village. He had been working at Zeta for about 4 years and it was a normal day for him and his co-worker, 25 year old Felipe Vasquez. However, around 4:20 in the evening, they arrived at an area to make the delivery when someone began shooting at them. Villafranco was killed while Vasquez was shot in the chest.
The route supervisor at Zeta explained that an anonymous call came in asking for delivery before the shooting.
Eliezer Escalante, Route Supervisor, Zeta Corporation Limited
"As to the information we have and through the storefront, yes, they were called out. They used a private number, the first time they called, they didn't give any name, they didn't want to give any number so we did not log the call but this was a call direct on the phone that we give the salesperson to be carrying with them. So at that time that phone was here charging on his lunch break so that call wasn't logged, when he came back he got his phone and I would assume he got the call again."
"These guys don't make much selling these 5 gallons, we deliver at the cost of $3, the most that they're taking is 60 gallons. So the amount of cash these guys have are very minimal."
And Escalante explained that Villafranco was a hard worker who was content with his job.
Eliezer Escalante, Route Supervisor, Zeta Corporation Limited
"What I can say about Mr Villafranco, he was a very dedicated person to his work. Countless times he mentioned that he loved what he did. He saw himself here for quite some time, he didn't plan to leave anytime soon, that's what he said. He's very humble, hardworking, dedicated, had lots of life in him."
"I was the one that received the first call here at the store, someone called explaining that one of our trucks was robbed that was the words they used and that one of our workers didn't make it. The other one was receiving treatment at a nearby gas station for the gunshot wound he received so my initial thing was I just rushed over to the scene."
"Disbelief, that's about it, I really just stayed blank, feeling mixed emotions."
As for Vasquez, he had just completed a year of work at Zeta, and is still trying to recover from the gunshot wound:
Eliezer Escalante, Route Supervisor, Zeta Corporation Limited
"He was in a stable condition but I guess last night he had a complication of internal bleeding so they rushed him to Belize City."
Police have some suspects detained but no arrests have been made.
So far police cannot determine if anything was stolen.
