Police Provide Details on the Slaying of One of Their Own

Modesto Cucul

Police Constable Modesto Cucul lost his life on Thursday morning when he was ambushed by a pair of gunmen who opened fire on him and his common-law while they were en route to Crique Jute.  He’s the second murder victim for this week. The thirty-five-year-old officer, who was stationed in Belmopan, was returning to his home village when they were taken by surprise.  According to a preliminary investigation, the couple was traveling in a beige pickup truck when upon reaching a quarter of a mile from Crique Jute, a pair of masked men pounced on them from the nearby bushes.  One of the men fired a shotgun, damaging the gypsy glass and injuring Cucul while he was exiting the vehicle.  The blast caught thirty-five-year-old Anlavidia Cal to the mouth and upper left side of body and was taken to the San Antonio Polyclinic, before being transported to the Punta Gorda Hospital where she remains in a stable condition.  Cucul wasn’t as fortunate.  He was observed lying face up on the left hand side of the road near some bushes with apparent pellet wounds to the right side of the face, neck, upper right arm and chest.  As we reported on Thursday, PC Cucul and another officer were involved in the alleged murder of Michael Valerio in Punta Gorda Town in 2012, but were subsequently acquitted of that charge.  It is not clear whether the attack on Cucul and his wife is an act of retribution.