Robbery, crash, shoot-out and abduction in Belize City
There was complete mayhem this afternoon in the city following a robbery at the Water Store at Miles one and a half on the Northern Highway that escalated into a collision, shootout, and kidnapping on one of the busiest arteries in the north side. Just before four o’clock this afternoon, four robbers busted into the store, owned by the Gabourel Family and made away with an undisclosed amount of money. One member of the family, who prefers to remain unidentified, pursued the robbers and caught up to them at the corner of Coney and Princess Margaret Drives. What happened next is that when the attackers tried to flee in a grey Buick Plymouth with license plate number 30043, they ended up in a collision with five vehicles, disrupting the flow of traffic of parents picking up their children from the schools in the area. The robbers jumped out of the vehicle and fired shots at the black SUV that was pursuing them and headed towards the Belize Elementary Primary School. A parent picking up his child from the school was forced to provide his vehicle as the getaway car heading to the south side. An eyewitness spoke to Channel Five about the horrific events that unfolded.
Voice of Eyewitness
“Coming out from the Nazarene school, I only saw a blue four door I think it’s a Buick vehicle with a BC license plate 30043 approaching towards Princess Margaret Drive in speed and I from there saw that that vehicle hit four other vehicles that chain up. One accident created a chain reaction where other vehicles were in the same accident at the same time. So it’s about four or five vehicles out there in this accident and about four young men jumped out of this Buick vehicle, turned around and one took out a firearm and start shooting toward the crowd. We don’t know what was the cause or what was the problem of the incident but further on we found out that these juvenile young men came from the Water Store on the northern highway and high jacked the lady there that works there. When her husband came along they sped off and jumped into this blue vehicle and it just so happens that the husband caught up with them on Coney Drive towards Princess Margaret Drive. The result of the shooting was towards the black jeep. It was also said that the driver of the black car had someone else with him inside and hopefully, we’re not sure if he had a weapon or not. From the information gained from other students around the area, they also said that when this boy jumped out of the car and pulled out a small weapon and fired towards the vehicles in the incident, they pulled over an Asian man—I’m not sure—but they took his vehicle or him along also and fled off from the scene.”
Duane Moody
“All four individuals?”
Voice of Eyewitness
“I’m not sure if all four were in the vehicle, some of them fled off by foot.”
Up to news time, police are investigating the incident but we have confirmed that the parent who was held up is now safely at home.
