Gun Shots Fired at Grocery Shop Robbery

Espinosa's Store on Pearl St., San Pablo Area

Gun shots were fired at an attempted robbery last night and two people were injured during an altercation at Espinosa's Store located on Pearl Street at the San Pablo Area. Shortly after 9:30p.m. on September 1, two masked men entered the store and held up shop attendant, Juan Jose Lopez Espinosa and security guard Alvaro Ramos. According to witnesses at the scene, it was after the shop attendant and the security guard put up a struggle against the two assailants that the gun shots were fired. Lopez was shot in the face but is in a stable condition while Ramos was shot in the back and was listed in a critical condition. Both men were airlifted to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (KHMH) in Belize City. No arrests have been made and the Police launched an intensive search in the general area, and residents were questioned. The incident takes place just days before the community is to meet with Police personnel and other officials to address the issues of crime in San Pedro and Caye Caulker communities.

Crime Meeting

The Belize Tourism Industry Association, mindful that crime bears a negative impact on conducting business in tourism, continues to advocate for initiatives that seek to combat crim. In light of this, BTIA national is commencing a series of destination meetings to discuss the state of crime in areas with a view to present recommendations for fighting crime in the locales.

The first in a series of such meetings will be in San Pedro for Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker. The meeting is slated for Friday, September 4, 2009, at Sunbreeze Hotel at 3:00p.m. to discuss crime in Caye Caulker and 5:00p.m. to discuss crime in San Pedro.

Recognizing the seriousness of our concerns, on hand we expect the CEO Ministry of National Security, the commissioner of Police, the Head of TPU Unit, the Director of Tourism or Director Product Development, the CEO or representative of Ministry of Tourism and the NICH representative for Park and Attraction security.