4 dead, pair of killers on the loose
When word spread around Belize City last night that two security guards had been shot to death and a third wounded, the reaction was one of anger and disgust, but not necessarily of surprise, as attacks on security guards have regrettably become common. But when rumours were confirmed that two unsuspecting civilians had also been gunned down by the same cold-blooded killers, that sense of sorrow was quickly replaced by fear. Last night’s crime did not fit any pattern that Belizeans could recognise and that fact is a troubling one. News 5’s Janelle Chanona reports on what happened, but as for why it happened, that question remains unanswered.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
This morning, only employees and police were allowed on the Bowen and Bowen distribution centre compound on Slaughterhouse Road as officers investigate Belize’s latest homicide.
It was here that it all began. Around 9:30 on Tuesday night, two Bowen and Bowen delivery drivers: Patrick Robateau and Leslie Pipersburg, both twenty-six years old, went into the company’s offices armed with nine millimetre handguns. Two K.B.H. security guards, John Ventura and Vivirgilio Requena, were standing guard as the night accountant prepared to hand over the day’s cash sales for deposit. The gunmen head-butted one guard and used him as a shield to force the other guard to hand over his weapon. The two security guards and the Bowen and Bowen employee were then bound with duct tape and left in a bathroom. The thieves then set to work, gathering an estimated thirty thousand dollars in cash. But unbeknownst to them, the call had already been made for the money to be picked up. And while the thieves were still inside, three more security guards arrived in an armoured truck: driver, thirty-four year old Fidel Mai, twenty-five year old Kevin Alvarez and twenty-five year old Karl Ventura. Karl did not know that his brother, John, was already inside, bound and beaten, lying on the floor.
The robbers responded to the presence of the armoured vehicle viciously. As the truck pulled up, each gunman took a window and fired. Mai was hit in the left side of his head, while Alvarez was struck in the right side. Both died at the scene. Ventura was shot in his neck and remains in a critical condition at the K.H.M.H.
The thieves-turned-cold-blooded-murderers then jumped into this delivery truck and took off through the streets of Belize City. A Bowen and Bowen employee alerted the police, and a mobile patrol in the area gave chase. As the men tried to get away, a shootout ensued between the cops and the killers. But the police lost the truck in University Heights. It was then the men decided to switch vehicles.
Janelle Chanona
“The Coke truck came from this direction and parked here. Now there were two other vehicles here, a gold Oldsmobile and a blue Camry. The driver of the Oldsmobile managed to escape uninjured by hiding in the back seat of his car. The occupants of the blue car weren’t so lucky.”
According to the only eyewitness, while one of the men from the Coke truck came to his window, the other walked up to the couple sitting in the Toyota parked at the end of Durgeon Drive and opened fire. The body of forty-one year old Cherry Tucker was found outside the car, while her companion, identified as David Flores, was discovered sitting up in the passenger seat. Both had been shot several times.
The sounds of the gunshots alerted the police to their location and the cops once again gave chase. The men decided to get back into the Coke truck and took off, damaging the Oldsmobile in the process. With police in hot pursuit, the men quickly abandoned the truck and took to the bush, managing to elude their pursuers. Warrants on four counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and robbery have now been issued against Leslie Pipersburg and Patrick Robateau. In the truck, police found two pump action shot guns, one nine millimetre handgun, a point three-eighty pistol, three bags of coins and a blue and white striped shirt, part of a Crystal Water driver’s uniform. At this time police believe the men are armed with two nine-millimetre Glock pistols.
Today, police officers scoured city streets searching for the killers, but remain empty handed. Reporting for News 5, I am Janelle Chanona.
According to police, Pipersburg and Robateau had a history of being the last to bring in their cash and it is believe the robbery was well planned and not a spur of the moment action. How they hoped to get away after robbing their own colleagues is not known, and collusion is being investigated. The two killers are not unknown to police as Pipersburg has been charged, although not convicted, of murder as well as several robberies. His only conviction is a 1992 offence of attempted theft. Robateau has been convicted of several crimes, including damage to property, harm and possession of controlled drugs.
