Husband and wife ambushed in their store in Cotton Tree Village in broad daylight
The robbery of a store in Cotton Tree Village, Cayo was caught on camera and police are looking for the three perpetrators. It happened on Monday evening after five o’clock. The store owner, thirty-nine year old Xinlong Chen and his wife were inside the store when three thieves bolted in. One was armed with a handgun; a customer who walked in was told to cooperate or Chen would be killed. The armed gunman headed to the register and helped himself to the cash as well as a laptop and then fled. Here is Dalila Ical with a report on the brazen Cotton Tree robbery.
Dalila Ical, Reporting
Three men entered a grocery store in Cotton Tree Village, assaulted and robbed the proprietors in broad daylight.
39-year-old Xinlong Chen told police that he and his wife were inside the store when the men ambushed them.
Armed Robber
“No move, no move. Come, come. No move. Get di phone deh. Brush ah quick.”
Surveillance footage shows one man dressed in black enter, pointing a gun at Chen. Two others follow.
Another angle clearly captures the faces of all three. Chen, arms raised, gets up and is held at gunpoint. The gunman asks for a gun. Another ensures Chen’s wife stays put and the third searches for the gun and money.
Armed Robber
“No move. Brush ah. Weh paat di gun deh? Hmm? Weh paat di gun deh? Weh ih deh?”
Xinlong Chen
“No gat.”
Armed Robber
“Weh paat ih deh? Get the money quick and thing bwai. Weh paat the gun deh?
Xinlong Chen
“No gat sir.”
Armed Robber
“Weh pah di gun deh, you know?
Less than thirty second after, someone arrives at the store and is ordered by the robbers to enter or they would kill the proprietor if she refused.
Armed robber
“Come in. Come in. No, I no wah do you nothing. Just come in. I just wah mek sure you no goh fa ya. I wah have to kill he if you no come in.”
The men took approximately five hundred dollars and a laptop. No one was seriously injured save for Chen who was hit in his head with the gun.
An eyewitness who was in the area at the time told us what she saw from outside. According to her, the men ensured the proprietors were alone before they hit.
Voice of: Eyewitness
“Di vehicle pass first coh si if anybody deh da di chiney and by the time we blink fo we eye, da less than five minutes den the three man deh come from the road side. Like afta four, minutes to five. We si three man di come from the roadside and I look pan deh and I she da who den deh because deh look strange and deh look straight pan me. Da two brown skin man, one gah plat strait da back with wah then wah shaat Spanish man da back with wa school bag pan he. Deh gaan strait crass dah di chiney then wah lee gial pass an halla please call the police caz deh di rob di chiney. So, we call di police deh and when we look two a deh gah gun and den deh gat rum ina deh hand and coke ina deh hand and afta dat deh run strait by the road side and wah silva vehicle pick dem up from di road side and deh gaan. The vehicle no gaan towards Belize, ih gaan towards Cayo side because we run da the roadside and did neva si di vehicle di go so. Deh jump ina de vehicle and deh gaan so.”
Dalila Ical
“Down to the Cayo area.”
Voice of: Eyewitness
“Yes ma’am.”
According to the store owners, this is the second time they have been robbed.
