One man is dead and another one is on the run after an attempted robbery went wrong, but this time it was the assailants who ended up on the wrong side of the attack. Two recreational hunters were returning home when they ran into a road block set up by two robbers in a poorly lit area in the Tres Cocos Area (1 ½ miles) on North Ambergris Caye. The robbers pulled out a handgun but to their surprise the hunters opened fired and caught one of the assailants while the other ran away.
According to the official police report, at about 9:00 p.m. they visited the area reported and at about 300 feet off the roadside they found a male person lying on his right side (with apparent gunshot wounds to the chest and right hand.
Investigations revealed that the two hunters, Samuel Gonzalez and Dimas Silva were returning from hunting when they saw a coconut tree trunk and a 4x 4 lumber on the road that forced them to stop. Two masked men approached them with what appeared to be a handgun, but one of the hunters was holding a licensed 12 gauge shot gun and fatally wounded the gunman while his accomplice ran away.
Police arrived at the scene and identified the deceased as Leon Aldana, 21-year-old, Belizean laborer of San Pedrito Area. Aldana was pronounced dead at 11:48 p.m. by Dr. Javier Zuniga and was later transported to the Karl Heusner Memorial for a post mortem examination. Aldana had a long criminal record on the island as he had been charged for multiple crimes including drug trafficking, theft and robbery.
San Pedro Police initially detained Gonzalez but released him pending instructions from the DPP who will make the ultimate determination on whether it was a justifiable homicide. Police are still looking for the accomplice as the matter is still under investigation.
