Belize City car jacking leads to high speed chase/shootout

High speed police chases are the kind of stuff you normally see on North American news channels but that’s exactly the scene that played out in Belize City this afternoon. Details are sketchy but reports to News Five are that around three this afternoon a woman was getting out of her car when two armed men held her up and stole the vehicle. The incident was immediately reported to police who in turn alerted officers manning the checkpoint on the Western Highway to be on the lookout for a black Nissan Altima. The hunch that the carjackers would head west proved to be the right one as sure enough, the thieves barreled through the checkpoint. A mobile police patrol immediately set chase and we understand that a shootout occurred between the cops and the bandits. We can also confirm at least one other vehicle was hit as the thieves tried to make good their escape. The pursuit came to a sudden end at mile eleven and a half when the stolen car ran off the road. As many as three people are believed to have been in the vehicle but only one man is in police custody tonight. That suspect was taken to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital for treatment for undisclosed injuries.