Crazed man throws cop off roof; shot dead by civilian
Two Police officers are recovering from injuries they received after a crazed man pushed them off a rooftop in Belize City. The drama unfolded around six-fifteen on Monday evening when police received a call that a man was acting suspiciously on the roof of a two storey wooden house on Hutson Street. Authorities, suspecting that it may have been a burglary in progress, dispatched a team to the location. According to police when they arrived on the scene they observed a lone individual on the roof top. The man, since identified as Byron Zuniga of Punta Gorda, was asked by the police to come down. When Zuniga reportedly refused, police constables Carlos Orio and Chris Usher decided to go up and coax him down. But as Police Press Officer G. Michael Reid explains, Zuniga was not ready to be escorted and put up a fight. Usher, who was the first to reach the roof, never did get a chance to negotiate. According to Reid, Zuniga rushed at Usher and pushed him off the roof. As Usher lay injured on the ground below, P.C. Orio then made his way to the rooftop and a struggle ensued. Zuniga reportedly bit Orio on his ear and was in the process of forcing the officer over the edge. Reid says that is when a legally armed civilian, who just happened to be in the area, came to the cop’s defence.
G. Michael Reid, Police Press officer
?And when this guy saw that in fact this individual was also trying to throw this police officer of the roof, he pulled out his licensed firearm. And according to his reports, he fired a warning shot and the guy still did not stop, then he fired another shot which caught this individual. We understand that at that point that P.C. Orio who was also armed also had his firearm and did fire a warning shot trying to stop the guy. And eventually fired another shot trying to stop the guy, so this might explain how this guy might have received two injuries but at this point we need to clear this with the medical examiner.?
Byron Zuniga later succumbed to his injuries at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. P.C.s Usher and Orio were both treated at the K.H.M.H. for numerous minor injuries and released. Meanwhile the police say because the Esquivel double homicide and the rooftop incident involved individuals who appear to have mental problems, Commissioner Gerald Westby will be meeting with representatives from the Department of Human Services and other agencies to discuss the challenges involved in dealing with such persons. As is required when the police use deadly force, an official investigation will commence shortly.
