O.W. watchman charged with manslaughter

An Orange Walk teenager is dead, shot by a watchman in the wee hours of Saturday morning. According to police, seventeen year old Javier Blanco, an employee of New River Enterprise in Orange Walk Town, entered the yard of his worksite around two a.m. He was challenged by the night watchman, fifty-seven year old Rosalio Gomez, who told police that three times he called out for the intruder to identify himself, but he kept on coming. At that point, fearing for his life, Gomez fired his weapon, hitting Blanco in the chest. The young man was rushed to the Northern Regional Hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival. Blanco, a resident of Tate Street in Orange Walk, had only recently been employed by the company and it is not clear why he entered the premises at that hour. Gomez has been charged with manslaughter.