Wild Wild West plays out in the North

Gunshots rang out like a scene from the wild Wild West; except it wasn’t in the west, it was up north in the area of Copper Bank. Reports reached our newsroom just before two o’clock this afternoon, indicating that two men were shot and another drowned in the New River whilst trying to escape the barrage of bullets. Love News caught up the Police Commissioner Chester Williams who gave us the preliminary details into what transpired.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police: “What we have been made to understand is that sometime after one this afternoon there was some incident near the Copper Bank Ferry in the Corozal district where there seems to have been some transaction between persons in two vehicles. That transaction later on led to shots being fired and persons may have been injured. Police responded to the area and somewhere near Progresso Village they encountered a vehicle that was overturned and a search of that vehicle revealed two persons who were badly injured and one high powered rifle along with a pellet gun. Those injured persons have been ferried to the Corozal Hospital and moments later police got information that two persons with gunshot injuries arrived at the Northern Medical Plaza. One of those persons have been identified as Benigno Laura aka Mouse and another person. Those two individuals drove themselves to the hospital from the Copper Bank Ferry area where the incident occurred. We believe that the incident is between those that were in the vehicle that overturned and Begnino Laura along with the other person who was along with him in that vehicle. We also got information that after the shooting occurred that a person may have jumped from the vehicle that Laura was in into the river. Currently searches is underway for that person we have not been able to locate the person. Coast Guard is assisting in the search for that individual so that is what we have at this time. At this time we have not found any other weapon. We do know that a 9mm was used in the shooting because we do have 9mm expended shells on the scene and so that weapon is still being searched for. There’s a lot of things that police will do to try and tie this up. It’s a lot to deal with but our investigators are out, I am currently on my way to the scene likewise to see what guidance I can provide to those officers who are out in the area.”

We will have more on this story in tomorrow’s newscast