Police-Involved Shooting in Punta Gorda; 1 Man Injured

ASP Fitzroy Yearwood

A criminal and internal investigation are ongoing in Punta Gorda where a man was shot by a woman police officer on Saturday night in that southern municipality. Reports are that a patrol responded to reports of two armed masked men on a motorcycle. Reports are that one of the three officers, PC Luella Whyte spotted a man that fit the description of the suspect individuals. That person, identified as Andy Alvarez, was ordered to stop, but he tried to escape. As the officers exited the vehicle, reports are that the man took out a nine millimetre gun and pointed it in the direction of the officers, while trying to escape in nearby bushes. P.C. Whyte took out her firearm and fired a single shot in Alvarez’s direction and he was hit to the shoulder. Alvarez was taken to the Punta Gorda polyclinic and was later transferred to the Southern Regional Hospital where he is in a stable condition. ASP Fitzroy Yearwood shares some additional details.

ASP Fitzroy Yearwood, Communications Director, Belize Police Department

“The Commissioner of Police has ordered an internal investigation as well as a criminal investigation into a shooting incident that took place on Mahogany Street in Punta Gorda where it is alleged that Andy Alvarez was seen on a motorbike right after police received information about two men dressed with hoodie shirts on motorbikes, brandishing firearms. The police that were on patrol in that area made an attempt to stop Mister Alvarez; he then attempted to flee away on a motorbike, but the motorbike shut down on him and when he was approached by the officers, he pulled out a firearm from his waist. The officers say that when they were advancing towards him, he was moving backwards towards some nearby bushes. One of the officers, fearing for her life instructed Mister Alvarez to drop the gun and she fired a single shot that caused an injury to Mister Alvarez’s left shoulder. He was transported to the Punta Gorda Hospital and later to the Southern Regional Hospital where he is still receiving treatment. Our investigators visited that scene where they recovered a Smith and Wesson brand firearm, a nine millimetre actually without serial number, and it had a magazine with eight live rounds of ammunition. The officer’s firearm was also taken as an exhibit because we know that pending the investigation, the outcome of that investigation, we will know whether or not that officer will be levelled any changes whether internally or otherwise. We know that she was in the company of two other police officers where statements have already been recorded.”