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Sr. Supt. Glen Rivero, OC - PSB
"I can say that there's no indication that the officer who fired the shots intended to hit him in the midsection. From all indications, the officer who fired the shot intended to use the force necessary to subdue Mr. Rivers by targeting his leg."

Jules Vasquez
"It was at point blank range. It was 2 feet difference."

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"I think Jules, the statement of the officer, he said in his statement that he had gone to shoot the man in the foot, but he turned at the same time and he ended up being caught in the abdomen. That's what the officer said in his statement."

Jules Vasquez
"When you make an assessment with a file like this, you have to take into fact that you are dealing with an officer, the officer who fired the shot has a history of the use of violence or the use of lethal force, sorry, the use of lethal force in the line of duty."

Sr. Supt. Glen Rivero, OC - PSB
"I can clearly say that our investigation so far have not indicated that the officer who fired the shot intended to cause the injury to Mr. Rivers directly as they encountered him. Those officers who were on the scene, they had use from our investigation extreme, extreme patience."

Jules Vasquez
"But sounds like you've already prejudged and reached a conclusion that there is no wrongdoing."

Sr. Supt. Glen Rivero, OC - PSB
"No..."

Jules Vasquez
"You said they showed every restraint."

Sr. Supt. Glen Rivero, OC - PSB
"I am saying that so far from our investigation, the officer did not, because from your question, it would imply that the initial encounter force was used. So I'm saying that our investigation is not showing that."

Jules Vasquez
"When you look at it, do you regret that that was the only real alternative the officers had? They didn't have a taser, they didn't have rubber bullets, they didn't have any means of suppression other than the sustained threat of lethal force, which will only produce one result from a mentally ill person."

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"We had a lengthy discussion about this matter in our conference this morning, and the commanders were asked to speak openly about it and to give the opinion so that we know what we need to do going forward in addressing issues like this. And it is our joint conclusion that there must be more training done with police officers and the Ministry of Health, and in particular, the mental health institution within Belize to sensitize police officers in terms of how to address issues like these."

"We also agreed that we need to look at the weaponry that police officers use in terms of escalating force. We might need to see how we can reintroduce pepper spray with specific instructions, and then we are going to see if we can introduce tasers."

"I also said to commanders this morning to make sure that they check their armory, that they do have the shotgun we had issued to them before, and if they don't have the beanbags, let us know and we'll provide them with beanbags."

"Clearly, the officers on the ground were not properly trained in terms of dealing with these issue, because listening to Mr. Rivers, his issue of not surrendering to the police was one of fear. He said, I will not go with you at the police, because you all will chance me."

"Obviously, there was one of fear, and the method the police used to de-escalate or to convince him to go with them was, like you rightly said, three guns trained at him and a series of obscenities, right?"

"That is not going to make him calm, it is not going to make him want to surrender, because all he sees is that if he surrenders, he might be killed or severely injured by the police. So we have to find other means to be able to train our officers, that they would know that when you encounter a person in such situation, using the right language to the person, even though they may suffer some mental disability, they still do understand at times, and they would listen."