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The story went out like a surge of electricity this morning: the Prime Minister's law office on Albert Street had been shot at, twice. In the current climate of wanton gun violence, there's no overstating how scary that is – especially considering that the Prime Minister still uses that as his Belize City Political Office for his Wednesday clinic. This happened on a Thursday morning, before 8:00 – so there was no direct threat, but the message it seems to send is clear. We say "seems to send," because tonight there is still a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the event, and the most pressing question is: was a shot even fired? Or did someone hurl a stone or launch some other projectile? Was it deliberate? We can tell you up front tonight that there is no definitive answer to those questions. But before we get to those or other questions, first, to the event. It's just down the street from the 7News studio and our team was first on the scene. Keith Swift has the story.

Keith Swift Reporting,
The damaged glass louvres are on the second floor of the Barrow and Williams Law Firm on Albert Street West. The windows look out from the library. At about 10 to 8 this morning - either a bullet was fired or a projectile was thrown at the building – smashing a louvre on the side of the building and another at the front.

This morning Scenes of Crime technicians and officers from the Police Special Branch were thoroughly searching the area – including climbing on a ladder – looking for an expended shell – or any evidence of a bullet being fired but they found none. In fact the only visible evidence was the shattered glass from the louvers that fell on the street. A construction worker in the area told us off camera that he didn't hear a gunshot but he did hear a louver shatter.

Voice of Eyewitness,
"This morning all I hear was the window just shatter and same a young bwoy pass by, I think he is going to either Wesley or ACC and he was looking kind of loss, he spooked, he didn't know what went on and me and friend was right out here and we didn't know what went on until we started to see patrol and vehicles started to come in."

Keith Swift,
"Did you actually hear the gunshot or just heard when the glass shatter?"

Voice of Eyewitness,
"I just heard something drop. I mi think somebody fire a pint but I didn't know it was up there it came from."

Keith Swift,
"You said the student looked spooked. What do you mean by that?"

Voice of Eyewitness,
"He looked frightened, the same reaction I would get if I was walking past and they bust something besides me."

Prime Minister Dean Barrow wasn't at the office when the incident occurred but he did eventually arrive and met briefly with the investigating officers before leaving.

Voice of Eyewitness,
"Like what I tell mi bally, any time, anywhere because you see how that bust right there so, that could have bust anywhere. That could have touched anybody, any time, anywhere. You can never be too careful."

Up to news time police crime scene investigators had found no evidence either inside or outside the building that a bullet had been fired. But, whether bullet or some other projectile, it was powerfully launched, so much so, that the behaviour of the Crime Scene Team suggests to us that both windows were broken by a single projectile. They were examining the front window area only because they seem to believe that a single projectile entered through the window on the side, and exited through the window at the front. According to those in the law firm, no damage other than shattered glass was observed in the library – and police found no bullet fragments in there.

So to stress, there is at this time no evidence that it was a bullet – but the evidence seems to suggest that it was a single high powered projectile that went through one window and exited through the other. Now, there's also information that there was gunplay between two rival men on the street and an errant bullet or bullets went into the building. In this regard we stress that no one we spoke to in the area – including those who spoke to us off camera - reported hearing any gunshots. We'll continue following the story.