Police Investigate Shooting Involving Off-Duty Officer

Police have launched both criminal and internal investigations following a shooting involving an off-duty police officer that left San Pedrito resident Maverick Fuentes with a gunshot wound to his left leg. According to police, the officer intervened while attempting to de-escalate an alleged domestic dispute between Fuentes and his common-law wife, Delia Martinez.
According to a police briefing issued on July 20, the officer, who was not identified, had just returned home after completing his shift at the San Pedro Police Station when he reportedly observed what appeared to be a domestic disturbance nearby. Police said the officer attempted to de-escalate the situation, but his efforts were unsuccessful. The report states that he then contacted the San Pedro Police Station to request assistance. According to the officer’s account, the altercation became violent before police arrived, prompting him to intervene in an attempt to detain Fuentes. The officer alleged that he was assaulted by both Fuentes and Martinez, leading him to draw his personally licensed firearm and shoot Fuentes in the leg. Police said the firearm was confiscated, and investigators recovered one expended shell casing from the scene.
Martinez, however, disputed the officer’s version of events during an interview with The San Pedro Sun. She said she and Fuentes were involved in a verbal argument inside their home but denied that it had become physical or required intervention. “We were not having a physical confrontation; it was just verbal, like normal couples. But the officer lives beside our house. He came inside our house, and my partner and I just watched him,” Martinez said.
According to Martinez, the officer asked what was happening, and the couple told him they were arguing. She said they questioned why he had entered their home before he approached Fuentes. “My partner did not attack him. The officer then grabbed him by the neck and pinned him down on the sofa. I put my young baby on the bed and tried to help my partner,” she said.
Martinez said that while trying to pull the officer away, she noticed he was armed and feared he would use the firearm. Moments later, she said, she heard a gunshot and saw that Fuentes had been shot in the left leg.
She added that the officer attempted to assist Fuentes after the shooting while she attended to their infant, who began crying after hearing the gunshot. When police arrived, Fuentes was transported to the Dr. Otto Rodriguez San Pedro Polyclinic II before being airlifted to Belize City for further medical treatment. Martinez told The Sun that Fuentes suffered a broken leg and was scheduled to undergo surgery. She also alleged that during the struggle, the officer dropped a loaded magazine, which was later turned over to police.
The investigation remains ongoing as authorities work to establish the sequence of events that led to the shooting.
Martinez also claimed this was not the first conflict involving the same officer. She alleged that on previous occasions the officer had shot at the couple’s dogs, injuring one of them in February of this year. It
She said she believes the shooting was unjustified and intends to pursue legal action against the off-duty officer.