Four Injured & A Fifth Drowns During High-Powered Crossfire
Four persons are being hospitalized and a fifth reportedly drowned as a result of a shootout between two groups of men who were involved in a high-speed chase on Thursday afternoon in the Corozal District. The incident ensued shortly after one p.m., near the Pueblo Nuevo Ferry and ended when one of the vehicles overturned near Progresso Village and the other headed towards Orange Walk Town with police intercepting it. And in the aftermath of it all, police reportedly retrieved over forty expended casings from the scene, two high-powered weapons, and a variety of unspent ammunition. Marion Ali went north and filed this report.
Marion Ali, Reporting
Reports are that the occupants of this mangled light green Ford Escape were in hot pursuit of those who were in this GMC Terrain SUV, as they neared the northern approach to the Pueblo Nuevo Ferry just after one on Thursday afternoon. News Five understands that the occupants of the Ford Escape opened fire on those in the GMC. Randolph Crawford who was in the GMC, jumped into the river and drowned. A workman at the nearby construction site of the Pueblo Nuevo Bridge shared with News 5 how the incident played out.
Voice of: Witness
“When the shots began we think it was fireworks and then we saw it was shots. And then the man jump in the water and when he jump, the shots gone, too many shots to the man in the water. Then the man go and the cars were gone.”
Marion Ali
“He jumped from where? Out of a vehicle or…”
“From the road, no just jump.”
Marion Ali
“He was standing on the ferry?
“No, the ferry was on the other side, and the man was there (pointing in the river). We nuh see nothing because of the trees. We just saw the man jump, and the man began to swim.”
The witness explained that he and his coworkers were in fear for their own safety and that’s why they did not render assistance to Crawford.
Voice of: Witness
“He almost reach the other side, then he began to scream help, help me, three times. The man go down, up, down. The shooting was still happening.”
“The shots were coming from what direction?”
Voice of: Witness
“From that direction, from the ferry.”
Today our cameras captured this Coast Guard vessel combing the river for clues of where Crawford might be located. Meanwhile, when the crossfire ceased, the workmen said the other occupants of the two vehicles turned around and sped off in the same direction that they arrived, with the Ford Escape again in pursuit. It was during this part of the chase that the Ford turned over. Inside, twenty-four-year-old Stanislaus Daniel O’Neil of Belize City and another known at this time only as “Bam” were injured. Both were taken to the Corozal Community Hospital but Bam was transferred to the KHMH in a critical condition. Two persons who were in the GMC suffered gunshot wounds and sought medical treatment at the Northern Medical Plaza in Orange Walk Town. Thirty-year-old Benigno Loria suffered multiple gunshot wounds and is in a critical condition, and twenty-two-year-old Sergio Hall who was shot to the abdomen, is stable.
Randolph Crawford was one of four men who, in March of 2019, who were charged for the armed robbery of money changers at the northern border. Crawford and one of the attackers were also charged with the attempted murder of one of the money changers. After the attack, they headed towards Corozal Town in an SUV. Marion Ali for News Five.