One arrested as several weekend shootings keep police busy
Alcohol is believed to have played a role in a police shooting in Belmopan over the weekend. According to the officers involved, at midnight on Saturday they were on mobile patrol in Las Flores but as they neared La Cabana Restaurant and Bar, they spotted a disturbance at the corner. Police say subsequent investigations have revealed that two brothers were fighting and friends were trying to disarm one of them of the machete he was wielding. The cops say as they approached the group, the armed man advanced on them and despite the attempted restraints of his friends, made chopping motions at the police. The officers say they felt threatened and one of them fired two shots to the man’s right thigh. The injured man has been identified as eighteen year old Jesus Alvarenga, a resident of Las Flores. According to Belmopan police, as soon as he is well enough, Alvarenga will be charged with Aggravated Assault. As for the officer who shot him, the Commissioner of Police has ordered an internal investigation into the incident to determine if such force was justifiable.
Back in Belize City, two other people were also injured during separate shootings. In the first case, fourteen year old student Ronim Castellanos is recovering from a gunshot wound he received while at the corner of Rivero Street and Kraal Road just after seven on Saturday night. Castellanos says three men, one of whom was armed with a thirty-eight handgun, approached him and fired five shots in his direction. Luckily, only one bullet struck Castellanos. He was treated for an injury to his left foot at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital and released. Police investigations into the incident have resulted in the arrest of Sigmund Trapp Junior, who lives on Rivero Street. He was formally charged with Attempted Murder today in Magistrate’s Court. During the proceeding, Trapp claimed he shot the youth in self defence because the minor opened fire on him and he has a bullet hole in his shirt to prove it. Trapp has been remanded to Hattieville Prison until April eight.
Meanwhile, a Mahogany Street resident didn’t see her armed attacker but she certainly felt his handiwork. According to twenty-six year old Lauren Panting around nine on Sunday night, she was in a yard on Holy Emmanuel Street with two friends when they heard several gunshots echo through the neighbourhood. Then came the burning sensation in her right arm and the woman realized she had been shot. The perpetrator has yet to be detained.
