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Joined: Oct 1999
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Marty Offline OP
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Police Operation on North Ambergris Caye leaves one civilian injured


Steven Bowen Jr. being transported to the KHMH via Tropic Air

An early morning police operation on Northern Ambergris Caye led to one person being injured and two detained. The injured person has been identified as 24 year old Steven Bowen Jr. Sometime between the hours of 8AM and 9AM, August 7th a special maneuver involving members of the Belize Coast Guard, the Belize Special Assignment Group (BSAG ) - an arm of the Belize Defense Force, led by San Pedro Police was dispatched to northern Ambergris Caye following several reports. The team's main goal was to disband a hostile environment in the area after San Pedro police received numerous reports and complaints of a group of about 10 armed individuals terrorizing North Ambergris Caye residents.

Reports of assault with the use of a gun, armed robberies, burglaries and the sale of drugs are just a few of the many crimes that had been reported to the authorities. With the objective to follow their mission, to protect and serve the residents of Ambergris Caye, San Pedro police organized this special operation within the stretch of land located nine miles north of San Pedro town on Ambergris Caye. Somewhere nine miles north of San Pedro Town, police came across three

men, one of whom charged at the law enforcement group with a machete. Fearing for their lives, one of the law enforcement officers fired at the individual. As a result Steven Bowen Jr., boat captain of San Juan area in San Pedro Town was shot once to his left side. Bowen was transported to the Dr. Otto Rodriguez San Pedro Poly Clinic II and subsequently airlifted to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital in Belize City with a police escort. Bowen is in stable condition.

Click here to read the rest of the article and see more photos in the San Pedro Sun


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Marty Offline OP
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Bandits busted; 1 shot in north Ambergris Caye

Steven Bowen Jr.

While residents in San Pedro were bracing for Hurricane Ernesto, there was an armed faceoff between police and three residents. Twenty-four year old Steven Bowen Jr., one of three men confronted by a team of law enforcement officers in San Pedro today, remains under police guard at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital where he is receiving treatment for a gunshot wound to the left side of his body.� At ten o'clock this morning Bowen arrived at the Municipal Airstrip, via a Tropic Air flight, accompanied by an officer, before being transferred on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance.� The incident followed multiple reports from residents of Northern Ambergris Caye who complained that a gang of ten men, believed to be armed and dangerous, were intimidating them.� Subsequently, a task force comprised of members of the Belize Coast Guard, the Belize Special Assignments Group, the Belize Defense Force, as well as San Pedro Police, embarked on an operation that led them nine miles up the coast.� There they encountered Steven Bowen, a boat captain and tour guide, twenty-two year old Elias Hernandez, a resident of Belmopan and twenty-two year old Lucio Salazar of San Pedro Town.� The officers came under sudden attack upon meeting the trio when one of them was assaulted with a machete.� In response, the officers opened fired injuring Bowen.� A search of their persons led to the discovery of three separate quantities of marijuana.� They are expected to be arraigned for drug possession and assault.

Channel 5


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This saddens me. His father is a good man and a valued member of the community.

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10 armed individuals terrorizing North Ambergris Caye residents minus - Police arrest 3 = 7 still out there,
and no guns confiscated.


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And those guys are arrested for a menacing act towards the police/bdf and perhaps suspicion of being the men terrorizing residents - unless they can be caught in the act and/or residents step forward and can positively identify these men, then make statements, press charges, go to court on numerous occasions over the course of a year to ensure a conviction- then they will be on the streets again within a couple of days.

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Kudos to the police/bdf and others who responded. Too bad that when most of the law abiding populace cannot own fire arms the thugs who break the law by having them and using them to intimidate and harm others totally go scot free 99% of the time.

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Originally Posted by elbert
10 armed individuals terrorizing North Ambergris Caye residents minus - Police arrest 3 = 7 still out there,
and no guns confiscated.


Yes, I noticed that. Good work by the police but no one in that area can rest easy yet.


Former Belize expat traveling the USA & Mexico
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Marty Offline OP
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Man Says He Was Shot By Police For No Reason

Yesterday morning - law enforcement shot a man on northern Ambergris Caye.

According to the San Pedro Sun, the Belize Special Assignment Group was on an operation to clear the area of a group of, quote, "about 10 armed individuals terrorizing North Ambergris Caye residents."

That led them to a group of three men who were staying at a home 9 miles north of San Pedro.

The Sun reports that one of the men charged at the law enforcement group with a machete. And, in response one of the members of the patrol fired at the individual - hitting him in the leg.

Steven Bowen Jr. got that shot and today he told us why it was unjustified. Bowen says he and his friends had been in the area for a few days visiting with an old man, and fishing. They were about to leave when the patrol found them. He gives us his account of what happened next:

Steven Bowen Jr. - Shot by Law Enforcement (Via Telephone)
"We went to get our bags. This is an open area, one house on the beach, and no bushes or anything like that. Everybody can pass and see us. I was packing my bag, and I got an instinct to bend down and pick up a fallen cup. When I did that, a big amount of gunshots were fired at me. I saw the bag tearing up, sand flying from the ground, and I heard like 100 shots. All I could do was to fall on the ground lay down flat with my 2 arms up, and beg saying that I surrender. I told them I didn't have anything. I had on a cap, and one of them told me to take it off. When I reached to take off the cap - they already stopped shooting - when I took it off, I heard another gunshot, and I felt a pinch in side. the man shot me in my left leg."

Jules Vasquez
"With what were these shots fired?"

Steven Bowen Jr.
"When I looked up, all of them had M-16 or M-4 rifles. After they shot me on the ground, they went for the 2 guys, and they started to beat them up. They kept asking where the gun was, and we told them we didn't have anything. We only use our machetes to cut coconuts. In the process of them taking us to the building, they were brutalizing us. They threatened to kill us."

Jules Vasquez
"Is this before or after you were shot?"

Steven Bowen Jr.
"This is after I got shot."

Jules Vasquez
"So at this time you are suffering from a gunshot."

Steven Bowen
"Yes, I was suffering from a gunshot wound to the left leg, and I pulled myself out to the front beach, and they put us together. I saw them put a gun into one of the young men's mouth, and told him that they should just kill him right now. He told them to do it because he didn't have anything to hide or run from. I never knew that the beach is not a public area that if the BDF or Coast Guard catch you, they will kill you."

Bowen - a boat captain and tour guide is under police guard at the KHMH. He does not dispute that police found them with three separate amounts of drugs, all amounting to 159.1 grams of marijuana.

The tow men detained are 22 year old Elias Hernandez of a San Martin area of Belmopan City and 22 year old Lucio Salazar of San Juan area of San Pedro Town. The Sun reports that all three will be charged by San Pedro Police on drug and assault related charges.

Channel 7


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These guys will be facing some serious charges either way since over 60 grams of weed is considered Drug Trafficking which is serious time if convicted.

Even if its 3 seperate amounts under 6o grams each, its still a $50,000 fine and 3 years incarceration in each case.

Another crazy story coming from the island

Gaz


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Fishy-er and fishy-er this story goes. "10" men, and now it really sounds like three. Any word from the residents living on north island who called the police? Probably never will know the true facts. This story is very strange.

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