Special constable allegedly shot innocent man four times
Thirty two year old Stephen Lopez, a security guard, was killed during the robbery of the Spanish Lookout branch of Scotia bank on March thirty-first. The bank was held up by five armed men and the security guard was gunned down. There was another man who was injured during the incident but his story has not been told, even to the police, because he was recovering from wounds that almost ended his life. Clifford ‘Guana’ Neal, a mechanic from Cayo took out forty dollars from an ATM in Santa Elena, then went with a client to buy parts in Spanish Lookout. When they found out the price of the part was over one hundred dollars, they drove towards the Scotia Bank branch which was being held up. While still in his car and inside his parking lot, a special constable began shooting at him. According to Neal, one of the four bullets which penetrated his body, narrowly missed his heart.
Clifford Neal, shot four times by a Special Constable
Clifford Neal
“While driving into the bank I saw somebody pan di ground and my partner seh bwai dehn di rob di bank, wah man dead. I try put car inna reverse, but ih slip and gone inna park and when I hear dang, I si wah special constable shoot and ih gone straight into the back seat. I jump out and as I jump out he shoot me inna di back. I drop and I watch ah di come cause ih step off ah di platform off ah di verandah and ih di come. And I crawl and crawl and I get by wah wire fence and as I raise up fi crawl under di wire fence, ih shoot me again. Ih shoot me dah mi head. Dehn time dat knocked me straight through di fence. So I start to lose too much blood and I tek off mi shirt and I tie mi head and I run to bout two other Mennonites and ask dehn fi please call di police. When I get deh dehn tell me di police already there. When I come out I si lot ah police so I walked come out back and me and mi partner, when dehn come and dehn approach me and dehn ask mi partner weh di gun deh. One ah dehn just walk and ih knock mi partner and he drop dah ground; dah di special constable. When he drop dah ground dehn tell he stay dah ground. So one ah dehn tell me get dah ground. I tell dehn mein unu wah have to kille me, look how unu got me. So di next one say where is the gun, I tell ah yoh ma got di gun. By di time I seh I drop dah ground cause I lose too much blood. At dat time I hear di policeman seh bwai dah Guana because everybody call me Guana. Bally start to come deh so and seh bwai dah Guana unu shoot.”
Jose Sanchez
“Were you able to find out his identity?”
Clifford Neal
“Yeah because while I was there I saw ah di come and di shoot afta me and when I come back I si ah wid di gun so I recognized him.”
Arthur Saldivar
Arthur Saldivar, Attorney for Clifford Neal
“A Mennonite acting as special constable at Spanish Lookout during the time of the robbery at Scotiabank shot him. We have been able to ascertain the identity of that person. My client was able to do so some time after he sustained his injury. We’ve been trying to locate and get in touch with that person as we believe that during the heat of what was going on there, this had occurred. This is unfortunate, but it could have cost my client his life under any other circumstances. In all fairness we want to give Mister Abe Letkeman an opportunity to either come forward to have us deal with this matter or if need be, we’ll pursue it in a court of law. Where there are rules of engagement for police and B.D.F., it is hard to tell whether or not a special constable would know those rules of engagement. Nobody told my client to freeze, nobody told him to stop or they’ll shoot. It was a shoot first, ask questions later.”
We showed Neal the file footage from the scene of the shooting and he positively identified Special constable Abe Litkeman as the man who gunned him down. He also said Litkeman never identified himself or asked him any question or directed him to surrender before opening fire.
I was on the scene at the Scotia Bank, and I know for a fact that what Mr. Neal is claiming is not true. He was shot by the robbers when they thought that he was blocking the driveway of the bank. The named Special Constable appear about 2 minutes after the robbers fled, and not a single shot was fired after they fled from the bank. It is another case of a man trying to take advantage of a terrible incident, and extort money from this Special Constable. Why is Mr. Neal not talking to internal affairs at the police department. They have the video from the bank security cameras.
awesome this punks i know them they are like seven of them that linger around harrasing the villagers near in spanish lookout. they have no training and mr. Thompson should know this by now. some of them are iliterate and i can positivily say that. it’s good if they put a law suit against him to learn to act like a reall constable. and all of them have guns. they act rediculous sometimes in the colony. there is one in particular name gerald friesen who harrasses villagers for any thing only cause he’s a constable. MR THOMPSON YOU SHOULD RECHECK YOUR LITTLE CONSTABLES YOU HAVE IN SPANISH LOOKOUT AND LECTURE THEM CORRECTLY BEFORE THEY DO ANY STUPID THING.
Is this the man they had initially said that the robbers shot? If so that sucks……
THEY SHOULD HAVE MANNED UP AND SAID……..In the heat of the moment I made a mistake and accidentally shot the wrong man…..instead of fabricating the story that it was the crooks who shot him…..Makes the PD loose credibility in my eyes.
WHite boy says its not him… if he doesn’t pay sue him
i think he works for a small computer place in spanish lookout looks familiar
We need more people who are not afraid to pull the trigger but those that also make sure they aim for the right person.
But you belizean pride shoul shut up i live there to im white.
not all white boys pull the trigger, some of them just make money designing gun and the trigger.
There was no constable there when the robbery took place. So how did the constable shoot Mr. Neal. After the robbery happened thats when the constables got there and saw Mr. Neal’s partner come out of the bush. Not knowing who he was, they told him to stop and get on the ground but he didn’t stop. ( may be because he was still dramatized from being shot by the robbers ) thats when they knocked him down. Mr. Neal just the try to get money from white man. Give it up You know they hard for give.
wr 426 correction there, i never ever didn’t mention no white thing in my comment. check your reading.
cayo is in the west and the police are acting upon the west moves not by the law i see these s… in cayo every week only because alot of s… done by the police does not hit the news and this thing with the special constable is most likely going to get cover up because the two comanding officers wade and thompson are just accepting whatever cib tells them infact the police might just say to hell with that those people in spanishlookout are not problem people well s… they are angel ah
Is the White Boy a White supremacist or a KKK? Looks like a scene from the USA!
You all have to put yourself this situation in able to have some clue as what happend that day. A man nearly died, almost shot to death by a police who was doing nothing more than trying to catch some bank robbers/killers and a man in the wrong place at the wrong time became the target.
Then again, the police over ride the rules by shooting first without saying that he was the police. Rules were broken and there should be some consequences, after all breaking the rules almost cost a man his life.
Again, put yourself in this hostile situation, what would you have done?
Belizeans! Please don’t try to make everything about race or color. We were not brought up that way. by saying things like that u only put ideas into the head of people and children. everywhere i believe a level of discrimination happens, but don’t fuel the racial fire. I am mestizo, born in OW and raise in Bmp, had to travel as a child frequently to Dangriga, I was a victim of racial discrimination by Garifuna people on the bus always. on several trips I was removed from my seat on a bus by a Garifuna women (Z-line) and had to stand up the whole way, was about 12 yrs then. But you know what, i blamed that now on ignorance, i’ve thought my kids to respect every race or color or religion. i could have remained bitter about it but didn’t, could have made my kids racist but didn’t. think it’s time we stop all racial prejudice. blame it on ignorance if u have to. We are not in the US! we don’t have SSS, or Nazi’s, we are Belizeans!
I was at scene shortly after the incident, I KNOW for a fact that NO shots were fired by anyone AFTER the robbers left. IF there had been such a mistake then most DEFINITELY, the Special Constable should own up to it. I DO however KNOW that the car in which Mr. Neal arrived in was shot by the ROBBERS (not the constables) when they were leaving the yard, and they mistook Mr. Neal’s actions as trying to block the road.
It is always a tragedy when innocent by standers get hurt by these things, and my condolences go out to Mr. Neal.
But I am CERTAIN he was at NO time opened FIRE upon. He may have been knocked to the ground, but just by reading the above, he doesn’t seem to be very CO-Operative, and/or respond to any of the commands od the POLICE or Special Constable.
But it is NOT right for him to try to take advantage of this HORRIBLE tragedy, this is NOT the time to start inventing stories!!!