Robber shot in holdup attempt
A robbery attempt Thursday night in the heart of downtown Belize City resulted in a big surprise for one of the robbers. A group of masked gunmen entered Lavish store on the corner of Albert and Church Street shortly after seven. When they left, it was without one member of the gang.
Girish Tekchandani, Store Clerk, Lavish
“I was standing over here, all of a sudden I saw three persons walking in the store. The first one approached me and banged my head and made me put my head down on the counter, and the two persons came in. I never saw them really good, but they were wearing masks. They asked me “Where the money deh?” I said, “In my pocket,” so he searched me, hauled out my wallet. I only had twenty-five dollars, that’s it. So he said, “Boy no have no money, where is the money?” So I never answered him, he banged me two, three more times on my head.”
Gobind Tekchandani, Manager, Lavish
“And they searched me also. They found, eight hundred to one thousand dollars in my pocket and they took it. I just told them, don’t shoot anybody. If you want money, I will give you what you want, but don’t hurt anybody. But they don’t listen to anybody. They just say “Run the money, run the money,” That’s what I heard. They had on masks and they took the money. They were trying to shoot me, but they couldn’t because people were trying to help me, all the taxi people. But after that one of the guys knocked me hard with a gun and they ran away. One of the taxi guys shot him and the boy got in hospital, he get three shots.”
The injured robber, eighteen year old Jermaine Belgrave, is receiving treatment at K.H.M.H. for two bullet wounds to the abdomen. The sharp shooting taxi driver is Calbert Budd. Police are still looking for three more suspects who managed to escape with the money.