Two Teens Remanded After Security Guard Shot in Belize City Robbery

Two teenagers, one just sixteen years old and the other eighteen, have been remanded to custody following the shooting of a security guard during a late-night robbery in Belize City.  Police say the incident occurred around 10:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 12, in the Douglas Jones Street area near Youth for the Future Drive. Investigators report that forty-nine-year-old security officer Justo Pineda was on duty inside the compound of a lending business when two-armed persons approached and opened fire in his direction. Pineda was injured but managed to escape and was taken to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, where he remains in stable condition.  A quick police response led to the detention of two suspects nearby, identified as eighteen-year-old Kriston Fernandez and a sixteen-year-old minor. Authorities say two firearms were reported stolen from the security booth, and investigators are continuing their inquiries into the circumstances surrounding the attack.  This afternoon both youths appeared before a Belize City Magistrate and were formally read a charge of attempted murder. Due to the seriousness of the offence, no plea was taken and bail could not be granted at the lower court level. They were remanded until April 16. The minor has been placed at the Wagner’s Youth Facility while Fernandez was remanded to the Belize Central Prison.  Earlier in the day, Fernandez appeared separately in court on a firearm charge after police allegedly found him with an empty nine-millimeter pistol on the night of the incident. He accepted responsibility for possessing the weapon and, in mitigation, told the court he carried the firearm because he felt threatened and had previously lost his mother to gun violence. Sentencing on that matter has been deferred to February 25.  The sixteen-year-old also faces a separate firearm-related matter before the Belize Family Court in connection with another gun police say he was found with. He pleaded not guilty and is due back in court on March 4.  Police investigations into the shooting remain ongoing.