And while the Compol is sure that if he were at home - the shooting wouldn't have happened, the fact is - it did happen. As he conceded, it's a message sent to him. But is it also a message sent to the broader society that criminals in that area of the country - are ready to take on the police - even when there's an active SOE?
We questioned the Compol about that:
Jules Vasquez
"In a few days. We've had, shots from a 40 caliber pistol and now a 45 being fired. These are, I believe, both prohibited firearms. And we know how a .45 is, very heavy piece of firepower."
"Are criminal elements showing that they have an armory of dangerous, prohibited weapons? And are they flouting in the face of enforcement? Since you guys are using 38's?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"We do we do know that, a number of illegal and prohibited weapons are smuggled into the country, near the porous western border area."
"And certainly, yes, that has created, to some degree, the proliferation of these guns, across Belize and in particular, the Cayo district and the Belize district."
"From the operations that we have done in this area over the past two weeks, we have removed five firearms and several ammunitions off the streets in the San Ignacio/Santa Elena area."
"And as much as we are removing, some are coming in. And we just have to continue to work to see how best we can intercept these persons, with their weapons, whenever they are moving around `with them."
Jules Vasquez
"We are seeing a change in the, in the, it seems a change in the overall temperature of things and that there is a defiance and a lawlessness being shown in the West."
"We have a police officer who was killed on Roaring Creek Bridge in March. We have the shooting of the police station where an officer was almost killed. And now we have, shots fired at your house, multiple shots from a heavy caliber weapon."
"Is there a change in the tone, from the criminal elements which are now saying, like, okay, we don't care about you, we are defiant. We are lawless, and, you all can do your next best."
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Certainly Jules. I would love that. In light of what is taking place, that the media would go less hard on the police and, try to understand the environments or this atmosphere now that the police have to work under."
"The police have a mandate. And as difficult as our job may be, we have to ensure that we carry out that mandate."
"So I would say to those lawless people in the West: you spread your bed, you will sleep on it."
"That's what my grandmother used to tell us. So they must expect what is going to come to them because we're not going to back down, we're not going to be distracted. We will press forward and will do so hard. They need to get the sense enough is enough."
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