Bank heist in O.W. leaves one robber dead
Crime doesn’t get much more brazen than a daylight bank heist…and that’s exactly what happened today in Orange Walk. At news time one of the robbers, believed to be part of a gang of six, lay dead, while his accomplices remain on the loose, the subject of a massive manhunt. Patrick Jones has just returned from the scene with the following report.
Patrick Jones, Reporting
The midday armed hold up of the Orange Walk branch of the Belize Bank brought gunplay to the business area of the town. And when the bullets stopped flying, one of the robbers lay dead at the steps of the bank’s rear door. A terrified victim of the hold up says he was in line getting ready to make a deposit when the robbers stormed the bank.
Enrique Elias, Hold-up Victim
“Three of them came into the bank. They just come into the door and pushed the security. When he reached to me they tell me lay down on the floor. Right away I lay down on the floor and I see nothing more afterwards because I was laying down until the police come and tell the customers to come out of the bank.”
Enrique Elias says the terrifying minutes on the floor felt like an eternity. And while he could not see the faces of the robbers, there was no mistaking their demands.
Enrique Elias
“Get down on the floor.”
Patrick Jones
“Did they have guns?”
Enrique Elias
“Yes, I see one of them they come like with a shotgun and two of them with a pistol.”
Patrick Jones
“Where they wearing masks?”
Enrique Elias
“Well I see one of them with mask, but I am not sure if the other two were masked or not. I was frightened too much. I just heard say, “open the safe, they want the money”. Money and money that’s all I hear. They say that if anybody move they will kill them.”
Employees of the People’s Store say they saw when a beat up old van drove up and a group of men carrying guns exited and went into the bank.
Clemente Espejo, Employee, People’s Store
“I was sitting over here and I saw a black van park and five guys went into the bank and the black van went into the side. After that, just the gunshots towards the van.”
Roman Alvarez Jr., Manager, People’s Store
“After these guys inform me that there was a black van parked in front of the bank and five guys went into the bank with the weapons, we start suspecting that something was wrong. When I came out of my office I saw one of the securities being held by one of the assailants at gunpoint and had his hands up this way in front of the main door.”
That security guard is this man who was about to talk with News 5 when his co-workers convinced him to change his mind. Alvarez says within minutes of the robbery, the cops arrived and that was when the fireworks started.
Roman Alvarez Jr.
“The people start telling the police that the black van was waiting for the guys inside, so the police was very cautious to what he was doing, so he went slowly towards the black van and I guess it was his decision to fire at one of the wheels first. At that point, the driver of the van noticed that he was under attacked and fired back. And that was when the first exchange of fire started happening. At this time we decided to close the store because we knew that something was wrong, they were assaulting the bank.”
While one of the robbers exited with bags in his hand and ran off towards the river, a second of the five men seen entering the building was not so fortunate. Alvarez says when that masked person came out he was immediately taken down by a bullet. It has not been confirmed, but it is believed that it was the security guard who fired the fatal shot.
Ramon Alvarez Jr.
“I saw like two or three bags, so when the second guy came out, I guess he was the second guy, that was when the police officers had a good shot and that was the one that stayed there.”
His remaining companions left the bank with the manager, fifty-seven year old Efrain Martin and his assistant forty-year-old Luz Maria Cervantes as hostages. Witnesses say they saw the assailants drive off in Cervantes’ bank assigned vehicle. Family of the bank manager tell News 5 that Martin and Cervantes were released by their captors in the area of San Lorenzo and the men continued on their journey. The bank employees then made their way to a nearby farm and called for help. Patrick Jones for News 5.
Late this evening, police were still questioning the two bank employees and were preparing to release a photograph of the dead robber in the hope someone might know his identity. Belize police have notified their Mexican counterparts to be on the lookout for the robbers who are believed to be heading for the northern border. How many of the robbers are in the get away vehicle is not known, but Orange Walk police are scouring the bushes on the banks of the New River where they believe the first robber swam across. The amount of money taken in the robbery is not yet certain, but different people we spoke to say they saw at least three bags believed to contain money in the possession of the first robber who fled the scene. News 5 understands that one bag was found inside the abandoned black van. Family of bank manager Efrain Martin say that in the brief conversation they had with him, he indicated that there was another bag of money inside the hijacked bank vehicle in which the robbers fled after dropping off Martin and Cervantes. The quantity of money in the bags is not known at this time. Police tell News 5 late this evening that only one bag of money has been recovered. They also found bloodstains in the black van indicating that at least one of the fleeing felons was wounded. At the crime scene, police say they recovered one pump action twelve-gauge shotgun, twelve cartridges and one black military type cap. Around six o’clock this evening the assistant bank manager’s vehicle in which the robbers fled was found abandoned in the area of San Victor Village in the Corozal District.
