Good evening and welcome to 7News; there is a lot that happened over the long weekend to report tonight, including two murders, and the presence swine flu in a community very close to Belize, but we begin with what had to be the weekend’s most shocking crime: a shootout in downtown Belize City on Saturday morning. Two police officers, a security guard, and a bystander were injured during a brazen but unsuccessful robbery attempt at the Western Union office by three armed gunmen. 7News was there and here’s the story.

Keith Swift Reporting,
Saturday morning’s robbery attempt occurred here at the Western Union branch on Regent Street. The three men wearing handkerchiefs over their face first went to the security booth and shot security guard Glenford Wallace in his right arm. They then headed for the main office- but the glass door was closed – and the security held it shut. Frustrated and probably not sure what to do, the robbers started shooting at the door. The security who kept them at bay told us how it unfolded.

Voice of Security Guard,
“I was inside by the door, opening the door, and at the same time three men were coming in with masks, with rags on their face. As they came they fired shots and I just fired shots back. I didn’t really catch their face or anything. I was inside by where the door is to haul it in for them to come in, for the customers to come in. As I went to haul it I saw two to three persons came with rags on their faces and they were already firing shots and I fired shots too and I don’t know if I hit anybody but I just fired shots.”

Multiple shots were fired – piercing the store’s glass door – and injuring one customer. One witness – who is visiting form Jamaica - was inside and told us off camera that it happened in seconds. So fast that the security guard inside the office – didn’t have time to react.

Voice of Witness,
“We got there three minutes before the incident and the guy who took me there was sitting and it is like I saw a rush of panic on his face that something was going to happen. My back was turned to the door and by the time I looked, I could see two guys with masks. The security guard was going for his gun and the guy just started to fire shots crazy.”

Jules Vasquez,
The guy went the mask started firing?

Voice of Witness,
“Yes.”

Jules Vasquez,
What type of gun did he have?

Voice of Witness,
“A handgun.”

Jules Vasquez,
And he fired more than one shot?

Voice of Witness,
“Yes quite a few because the door was closed and they were shooting through the door. The guy on the chair got shot in his back. The glass door was closed because it was just after 11:30 and they were only dealing with people already inside there. So that is why the door was closed and they couldn’t get in.”

Jules Vasquez,
So they were shooting from outside?

Voice of Witness,
“Yes from outside. They didn’t get a chance to get inside the bank, they were shooting from outside.”

Jules Vasquez,
Were they shooting to injure people or just to penetrate the glass?

Voice of Witness,
“No the security guard was going for the gun and that’s why they started shooting.”

A taxi driver who was inside – also got shot in his back.

Jules Vasquez,
The security guard, did he get to fire a shot?

Voice of Witness,
“I think so.”

Jules Vasquez,
Do you feel fortunate to have survived such a thing without injury?

Voice of Witness,
“Yes I feel fortunate still but the mess up thing about it is that the guy who got shot is the guy that took me there.”

Jules Vasquez,
So you’re here on vacation from…”

Voice of Witness,
“Jamaica.”

Jules Vasquez,
Now when you’re on vacations something like this isn’t supposed to happen.

Voice of Witness,
“Jamaica is a violent place and I’ve never seen anything like this. It is the first time being so close to something like this, it is the first time being so close to something like this because if they can fire shots just because someone refused them entry, just imagined if they had gotten inside. It is just crazy, they just came gun smoking. No questions asked.”

The gunmen fled and in the process of doing that – shot 2 policemen.

Crispin Jeffries, Commissioner of Police
“He along with a tourism police office responded but they did not expect the flight of the criminals or the culprits in their direction and upon contact with them, the young officer attempted to freeze the persons and that is something that won’t work and then it is either you shoot and then you answers questions afterwards. He did not and because of that the culprit fleeing fired a shot injuring his colleague and he then returned fire not injuring any of them and they then made good their escapes.”

Jules Vasquez,
Have you arrested any suspects?

Crispin Jeffries,
“Not as yet but we are working on some names, we believe we have identified some persons of interest to question and we are working on that.

Based on the incident, we did some reflection and we think that there were certain things developing that we were not aware of. We had police deployment all over the city, we were prepared for the long weekend, it was the day after the holiday. It was in the day when all the other social events were cancelled and so obviously the criminal elements would want to seek an opportunity and this is when they struck. Unfortunately we did not get the kind of intelligence to suggest that could have been an imminent target.”

The security guard Glenford Williams and the taxi driver who just happened to be in the line fire, Wayne Wallace, are still hospitalized. Again police have made no arrests but Commissioner of Police Crispin Jeffries says that based on the surveillance video – they have an idea of the three suspects they are seeking. And again it was just a robbery attempt since they weren’t able to steal anything.