 |
Leonel Aldana, deceased.
|
Shortly after 9:00 p.m. on Saturday night, gun shots were heard in the Tres Cocos area of Ambergris Caye. Investigations into the matter by the San Pedro Police Department have revealed that two San Pedro residents, Samuel Gonzalez; employee of the San Pedro Town Council, and Dimas Gumalliant Silva, were returning from a hunting trip on Northern Ambergris Caye. They were travelling in a golf cart south bound towards San Pedro Town.
Upon arriving near the Tres Cocos area, they observed what appeared to be a log lying across the road. This forced the two individuals to come to a halt. The two logs, according to the hunters, looked like they could pass through without having to get off the cart and remove the obstacles. As the front wheels of the vehicle passed the obstacle, two masked men, one of them visibly armed with a handgun, the other was later discovered to be unarmed; appeared from behind the bushes and exclaimed, “This is an assault”.
Gonzalez had his licensed 12 gauge shotgun on his lap and pulled the trigger. The bullet grazed the inner arm of the gunman and landed in his chest region, proving to be fatal. The assailant managed to run a short distance and his body was later found in the bushes. Police later identified the deceased as 21 year old Leon Aladana, originally from the Camalote village in the Cayo District, unemployed of San Pedro Town. Police also recovered a handgun and a mask in his possession. Aldana has a long criminal record with the San Pedro Police Department; including drug possession, theft, wounding, obstructing police officers and robbery for which he was on bail awaiting a following court hearing.
Further investigations into the incident revealed that both Gonzalez and Silva had fired one shot each, however, Aldana was the only individual that was shot. The other individual involved in the attempted robbery escaped unharmed and officers have one person in custody who they believe will be able to give them more information on the incident.
The San Pedro Police initially detained Gonzalez for questioning, but released him pending instructions from the Director of Public Prosecutions who will make the ultimate determination on whether it was a justifiable homicide.
|
