3 arrested for vendor shooting

Two days after fifty-three year old meatpie vendor Efrain Heraso was held up and shot during an attempted robbery, Belize City police have arrested three young men they believe were involved in the crime. This afternoon twenty-three year old Martin Duran, twenty-six year old Alvin Marin, and twenty-seven year old Ewart Andrews Jones were escorted over to Magistrate Court for charges of attempted murder, use of deadly means of harm, attempted robbery, and dangerous harm. Police say witnesses have identified Duran, Marin, and Jones, as the persons who approached Heraso at the corner of Bocotora and Iguana Streets around nine on Wednesday morning and demanded money. It is not clear how he responded, but gunshots rang almost immediately. Heraso, who was shot in the arm and right cheek, managed to run inside a nearby shop and was quickly taken to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital where he remains in a critical, but stable condition. At the crime scene police got a good description of the assailants from a number of people who witnessed the shooting. That community response is believed to have led to the quick arrests. Following their court appearance, Duran, Marin, and Jones were remanded to the Hattieville Prison.