Two security guards wounded in city shootings
It was a bad weekend for security guards as two were shot while on duty in separate incidents in Belize City. The good news is that both men lived to tell the tale.
Ernest Alarcon, Shooting Victim
“So he shoot me inna my leg right here so. Well the doctor claims the bullet gone in–according to the X-ray–and come out of this side. Well praise God, it noh fracture no bone. Right now I feel the whole of my leg feel numb, numb. I noh have no feeling in the bottom part of it.”
Patrick Jones, Reporting
Fifty-five year old Ernest Alarcon, who has been working as a security guard for the past seven years at Fu Qung Shopping Centre on Jimmy Dyer Avenue, was shot in front of his eight and twelve year old daughters, as he stood outside of the building.
Ernest Alarcon
“He look on me down on the ground and two of my daughters mi right deh and they di bawl and seh “daddy, daddy, daddy.” Then he do the gun like that soh and when he see the Chiney man di come then he run out, because he could of shoot me again; because he done see that I no dead.”
The drama unfolded around eight-thirty Sunday night, just half an hour before the store would have closed for the day. Alarcon says he was on duty when a car quickly pulled up.
Ernest Alarcon
“One guy came out with a rag across his face and a black thing over his head, only his two eye I see. He come with the gun like this and he tell me, goh inside, goh inside…then I tek my hand and I push it like that, then I see the guy serious cause I see two more the come out ah the car. Then I decide fi try get out of the way and so I turn and then I decide to run to the gate, but when I look I see the next two di come by the gate too, so he shoot me inna my leg.”
The bullet entered and exited Alarcon’s right upper thigh. The gunshot alerted the shop owner who came running with a weapon in his hands. Alarcon believes the quick action by the Chinese businessman saved his life and prevented any burglary.
Ernest Alarcon
“But the Chinese man tried his best because then he heard the gunshot and see weh happen he come out with fi he gun. So the same guy who shoot me, seh “bwai the Chiney man have a gun.” And soh they jump inna the vehicle. But to me it look like he dah the driver ah the car too and then he jump in and they just take off.”
Jacqueline Woods
“Is it true that the men wanted to take you inside the vehicle?”
Ernest Alarcon
“Well, he told me to go inside, but inside the building, not the vehicle. He come with the gun like this to me, he seh “goh inside, goh inside.” So that dah fi goh inside the shop.”
The incident has left Alarcon very shaken and seriously concerned about his own safety on the job. Like other security guards who have been shot, he is not sure if he will continue with the work.
Ernest Alarcon
“Well right now to be a security guard deh, I noh think ih mek sense fi me, because you have to have a gun or something right now. Even with the gun they still have a lee danger, because if three man come like how they come last night you inna problems anyway.”
Police say they have no suspects in this latest hold-up. Jacqueline Woods for News 5.
The shop owner, who declined an on camera interview with News 5, says it is the third time that his store has been held up.
The second shooting also occurred on Sunday night, this time on Albert Street. Seventy-three year old Ricardo Ticas, who works as a security guard at S.C.B. Video Rentals on Albert Street, was on duty around seven-thirty Sunday night when a tall, fair complexioned man walked up to him and held him up with a gun. A struggled ensued and that was when Ticas was shot in the left side of his chest. The gunman then ran off with Ticas’ hand held radio valued at one thousand dollars along with fifty dollars in cash. Ticas was discharged this evening from the K.H.M.H.. The police have yet to arrest anyone for the shooting.
