Belmont gas robbed; owner shot

A Corozal businessman is in the hospital tonight after he was shot during a robbery attempt over the weekend. According to police reports, forty-two year old Kim Longsworth of Belmont Butane Gas in Santa Rita, Corozal was at the company compound on Sunday around 10:00 a.m. when a minivan carrying three men arrived at the gate. Longsworth says one of the men got out and asked to buy gas. Longsworth told them no; that’s apparently when the other two men jumped out of the van and attacked him. Hearing the scuffle, Longsworth was joined by his brother who tried to fend off the attackers. At this point, one of the men, armed with a point three eight handgun, shot Kim Longsworth in his back. However Longsworth, no stranger to hold-ups, pulled out his licensed nine millimetre pistol and shot back, hitting one of the men. The accomplices fled the scene, but not before grabbing a plastic bag full of money from Longsworth’s pocket. The injured man, identified by police as Albert Garcia, is now under guard at the K.H.M.H. while Longsworth is being treated in Chetumal. Police have been unable to determine just how much money was stolen, but have detained another man from Orange Walk in connection with this incident.