Hardware store owner shot by robbers

With Christmas less than two days away, the criminals are getting desperate. Despite heavy police presence downtown to protect shoppers, two men shot a Belizean businessman at his store this afternoon. They shot him even though they got a hefty amount of cash. According to Elena Rosado, she and her husband, Oscar were in their store, Rosado’s Hardware on Cemetery Road around one p.m. when the robbers walked in and demanded money. Elena Rosado remained silent as the men stole their hard earned money, five thousand dollars in all, and then, when the robbers weren’t satisfied with what they got, Elena watched helplessly as they shot her husband in the back.

Elena Rosado, Wife of Victim

“I see two guys came in from the back and one at them point at him and say, “The money!” And he tell them go ahead and the next one come behind the counter, take the money that we had in the baskets, and point the gun at me. And then he tell my husband, he want more money so my husband gave him the money he had in his pocket and the guy said, “That’s all?” My husband said, “I no have no more.” And he told him shut up and he shot him right there and my husband collapse right there.”

Because of the location of the hardware store on Cemetery Road, the Rosados offer parking to their customers inside the compound, and a rear door allows them access to the store. It was through that open door that the robbers carrying handguns and wearing stockings over their faces, came in. They exited the same way. Rosado was rushed to the K.H.M.H. where he remains in a stable condition. A neighbor says they often hear gunshots in the area.

Frank Lizama

“Never a safe neighborhood because it seem like in that last, in that section of the Collet Division behind the burial ground in that area is the hottest area in Belize. Always there are gunshots in that area, always. And police busy in that area all the time.”

So far police have not made any arrests in connection with the shooting. This is the first time in their four years of operation that Rosado’s Hardware has been robbed at gunpoint. Late this evening officials at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital told News Five Oscar Rosado’s condition is serious but stable.