Taco vendor shot by frustrated jacker
It’s about as senseless as crime gets. This morning around eleven a woman selling tacos near the western entrance to Belize City was shot at point blank range, apparently because she did not have enough money to satisfy her attackers. News 5’s Patrick Jones has the disturbing details.
Patrick Jones, Reporting
The blood stains on the sand near the intersection of Elston Kerr Street and Cemetery Road mark where forty-one year old Gabriela Garcia lay critically wounded after the shooting. According to family friend Wilma Rodriguez, the crime took place as Garcia sold tacos near the Plum Tree taxi stand.
Wilma Rodriguez, Family Friend
“She was out at her working place and this guy came, pass and just shot. But she says that on two several occasions this same guy had attempted to rob her or molest her or something, and this time she only pass and shot without saying anything right.”
But the police say their investigation so far has determined that Garcia was approached by two men, who demanded money. According to Press Officer G. Michael Reid, Garcia told her attackers that she had already turned in the proceeds of her sale and that all she had on her was seventy-five cents, which she offered to the men. Apparently angered by the gesture, one of the young men reportedly told Garcia to have more money next time and then shot her.
Police say Garcia was shot in the abdomen. At the hospital today her family said that doctors were working to control internal bleeding, but were not having much success.
A female taxi driver who arrived on the scene shortly after the shooting described the gunman she saw running away as a young man about sixteen years old who wore a white short pants and blue shirt.
Garcia’s children say their mother knows the person who attacked her, but while she is fighting for her life in the K.H.M.H. they are appealing for anyone with information on the incident to contact the police.
Wilma Rodriguez
“We would all like to, if the public, anyone saw something, if they could please come out and say something, whatever they saw, whatever they know about the whole situation.”
Patrick Jones, for News 5.
Police have since detained one person, pending a positive identification as the shooter, by either Garcia or a witness. The police would only describe the suspect as “no stranger to authorities” and say that without positive I.D. or other strong evidence, they will have to release him after forty-eight hours, as prescribed by law. Garcia’s daughter tells News 5 that her mother’s apron in which she kept money is missing and only part of the day’s sales were turned in to her employers. Anyone with information on this morning’s shooting is asked to call 922.
