Police on Ambergris Caye have detained one man following a shooting incident on Sunday March 31st. The victim of the shooting is 29 year old unemployed Allen “Ajay” Martinez of a Tarpon Street address in San Pedro Town. The incident occurred shortly after 8PM at an Easter function at the Holiday Hotel situated on Barrier Reef Drive in San Pedro Town. San Pedro Town Police have since detained 40-year-old Reynaldo Verde of Belize City for the shooting.
According to Superintendent of Police, Luis Castellanos, Officer in Charge (OC) of the San Pedro Police Station, they visited the Dr Otto Rodriguez San Pedro PolyClinic II, where they saw Martinez with a single gunshot wound to the left hip that exited the buttocks on the left side. Initial investigations revealed that Martinez was socializing on the deck of the Holiday Hotel with some other friends when he accidentally bumped into Verde and an altercation ensured. According to Police, Verde took out his license 9 millimeter (mm) Luger brand gun and fired a single shot towards Martinez causing his injuries.
In speaking to The San Pedro Sun Newspaper OC Castellanos said that a 9mm slug was retrieved from the scene. A 9mm pistol along with a magazine containing seven live rounds of 9mm ammunition belonging to Verde was found inside his hotel room.
As a result of his injures, Martinez was transported to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (KHMH) where he is listed in a stable condition. Verde, the Deputy Director of the General Sales Tax Department, remains detained pending the outcome of their investigations.
