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Here's her report:

Monica Bodden Reporting

At approximately 9 this morning - police officers responded to a report of a Bank Robbery at the First Caribbean Bank in the San Cas Plaza.

On arrival at the scene - it was learned that 4 armed men entered the bank - made their way into the vault - where they then helped themselves to a roughly estimated 2 hundred and thirty thousand dollars.

The money was stuffed into two black bags - one described as a knapsack and the other a plastic bag.

The four men then fled the area on foot - heading to the Northern highway. Albert Crawford, a security officer working as San Cas Limited - was alerted and quickly responded to the robbery.

He managed to chase the 4 robbers up the northern highway.

But he was forced to stop when one of the assailants pulled out his gun - pointed it at Crawford and attempted to shoot him. Luckily for Crawford, the gun snapped. In an off camera interview with us, he recorded this morning's chain of events.

Albert Crawford - Security Guard
"A bit after 9 this morning, I got a call from my supervisor upstairs, the surveillance personnel, who monitors the camera. He told me that they were robbing the bank. So I usually stand up in front of Save U, and when he told me this, I started walking toward the front of the First Caribbean Bank. And when I was walking I saw these young men coming out of the bank: two colored slim young men and a small Hispanic guy, three of them. They were holding two black bags, which I believe that the money was contained in. They were walking like they were going up the Northern Highway. So my supervisor and I set chase after them. When we got by the taxi stand by the bus stop, one of the young men pulled out his gun and pointed at us like this, but the gun stopped. We have firearms also, but we didn't want to shoot due to the public and the taxi drivers who were there. So we came back; I followed them and they jumped into a Rodeo in front of A&R."

Monica Bodden
"What color was the Rodeo?"

Albert Crawford
"It was a grey Rodeo. They headed up toward the Northern Highway. My supervisor and I started to chase after them in our company truck, the red truck. And we chased them up to where they stopped by jungle area. A vehicle flew past the young men. They jumped out of the vehicle and ran toward the back of the place, and then the vehicle continued going. When we went to the back of the building, it was then that we saw the young men were fighting to jump in to swim across to the next side of the river."

The men made their way to the Pact round-about - and attempted to cross the river in this small skiff that was tied up at the edge of this dock.

Over at the other side of the river is La Croix Boulevard as the eastern edge of the St Martins area. Once inside the small boat - they were surrounded by police officers on both sides of the river.

Reports are that the robbers began firing shots at police who returned fire. During the massive shoot out, the robbers jumped out the boat and began swimming, leaving behind the two bags of money.

One bag was discovered floating in the river and the other in the skiff.

Albert Crawford - Security Guard
Well, at US Imports, that the Arab people own, right at the back there. They had a small skiff, which had no machine, no paddle. It was in that they were trying to escape. When we got the back, the young men jumped into the river and were trying to swim across. They had two 9 mm in the boat, and they had a big black garbage bag half filled with money. They rest of guys were swimming across, but the last one, who got killed, he got shot because he was swimming backwards. I saw when he got out of the river it was like a piece of his head back was missing. The other guys had already run into the bushes. They got away and left."

Monica Bodden
"Did they manage to move the boat at all?"

Albert Crawford
"Well, a little while after, the police brought the boat down the river, took it to a truck probably to the station. I guess that they recovered the two bags of money because I saw one of them floating into the river, and one was in the boat."

Reporter
"Now, the robbers, did they have anything on their faces?"

Albert Crawford
"Only one of them had a cap on, and the one at the back had on a - to me, they looked like people who work for the sanitation company because they had on the bright neon colored clothing."

20 year old Albert Benito Assi - one of the 4 robbers attempting to get-away to the other side of the river - was fatally shot by police.

The other 3 robbers managed to escape but police believe on of them was shot during the shootout. Assi's body lay here at this spot - in the backyard of a residence on La Croix boulevard until a police mobile arrived to take him to the morgue.

In front of a crowd of spectators, his body was lifted and then placed on this stretcher - put in the pan of this police pick-up truck and escorted through the crowd - to the morgue, where his grieving family was waiting outside the morgue to identify his lifeless body.

ACP Elodio Aragon, Jr. - Officer Commanding, Eastern Division
"Earlier today, at approximately 9 a.m., information was received that the First Caribbean Bank, located at San Cas Plaza, was being robbed. Upon receiving this information from the Police Control Room, officers were immediately dispatched to the location. Quick police response and coordination, along with the members of the Bullet Public, resulted in a police pursuit of the suspects. Our officers encountered 4 of the robbery suspects making their way across the river, on a small fiberglass vessel, at the Ventura Roundabout, opposite the La Croix Boulevard on the Belize River. Immediately seeing the police officers, the 4 suspects opened fired, at which time the police returned fire, which resulted in one of the suspects being fatally wound, and the other 3 suspects escaping on the opposite side of the river. We have confirmed the identity of the deceased robbery as that of one Robert Benito Asi, a 20 year-old Belizean. It is believe that one of the 3 suspects, who escaped, received gunshot injuries. Police were able to recover 2 9mm pistols with several rounds of ammunition, along with 2 bags containing an undisclosed amount of cash, believed to have been the proceeds of the robbery. A vehicle has also been impounded as part of this investigation, along with a small fiberglass vessel. We are looking for several suspects, who we believe can assist in this investigation."

Police believe that this Silver Isuzu Rodeo - without any license plates - may have been the get-a-way vehicle in this morning's Bank Robbery. The vehicle was impounded by police this morning. It was found parked in this yard at a residence in the Belama Phase 1 area facing the river.

The four doors of the vehicle were locked up but inside the ignition was the vehicle key - which police found to be out of the norm.

Vehicle Owner
"This morning, I was called by my neighbors saying that there were police in my daughter's yard because they suspected that the vehicle that's parked in the yard is the vehicle that was in a robbery this morning of some bank."

Reporter
"But as far as you know, the vehicle should have been here right because it's not working properly?"

Vehicle Owner
"I wasn't too sure on what happened. When I spoke with my daughter, she said that she took the vehicle to work, and then the gentleman came for the vehicle because the vehicle wasn't working properly. He came and parked it in the yard."

Reporter
"The gentleman being who?"

Vehicle Owner
"Mr. Clota."

Reporter
"Who is he? What's the relation?"

Vehicle Owner
"He's my daughter's boyfriend."

Reporter
"Okay, so he went with the vehicle?"

Vehicle Owner
"He went with the vehicle, brought it, parked it, and then this - as far as she told me - was a little after 8 o'clock."

Reporter
"That he came for it, or that he brought it back?"

Vehicle Owner
"That he came for it and brought it back, because she said that she got to work before 8 o'clock. At around 8 o'clock, he called, came and picked up the vehicle, and brought it here."

Reporter
"So it was parked here before 8?"

Vehicle Owner
"No exactly, it was parked here - maybe we can say 7:30 because she usually leaves for work between 7:30 and a quarter to 8. She took the vehicle this morning, and he came for it a little after 8, brought it up here, and parked it. And I understand from her that he went to do some fishing this morning."

Reporter
"So no one else would have moved the vehicle from the yard?"

Vehicle Owner
"No one else as far as I know, when we looked in the vehicle the key was in there. So, I am not too sure exactly what happened, but the key was in the vehicle, and the police had to open it with some device, and they took the vehicle to the police station."

While back at La Croix Boulevard - residents say they are disturbed by the way police officers were randomly firing shots in the area. They say they heard at least 50 gunshots in this morning's shootout - some of those bullets pierced through their walls - entering their homes.

10 people reside in this one yard alone. They showed us there bullet riddled walls and gave us their story of this morning's terrifying episode.

Reporter
"There were some bullets fired through portions of your daughter's house?"

Area Resident #1
"Yes."

Reporter
"Tell us about that. Was she inside with her children?"

Area Resident #1
"Yes, of course she was inside. About 13 bullets."

Reporter
"Nobody got injured?"

Area Resident #1
"Nobody got injured; Praise God."

Reporter
"Did they take out a man from out of your yard?"

Area Resident #1
"Yes."

Reporter
"Do you know him?"

Area Resident #1
"We couldn't see anything because like I said, we went out on the street, and afterwards the police had the place swarmed. They told us that nobody is to come into the yard."

Monica Bodden
"About how many people occupy this yard?"

Area Resident #1
"There is a mother, a father and 3 kids back there, and 5 of us live up here too, so 10 in all. We are highly upset. That amount of shots and so many people living in this yard, somebody could have died for us. The police have to be more professional when they come and do their jobs because it is definitely the police shots caught the back house."

Monica Bodden
"This morning, you heard the shots - I understand. Some bullets actually came through your house."

Area Resident #2
"Yes ma'am, right over my bed. It passed through my hallway, and went through the next wall."

Monica Bodden
"About what time did this incident occur?"

Area Resident #2
"I'd say at about 9:30."

Monica Bodden
"So you just heard a lot of shots being fired?"

Area Resident #2
"Yes, this is craziness at the riverside, bullets going off like that, and nobody knew what was happening."

Monica Bodden
"At that time, did you have children inside your home?"

Area Resident #2
"Yes Ma'am, I had my grandchild in there."

Monica Bodden
"Now, I noticed - because you showed me - by one of your bedrooms, you had a little baby on the bed, and I also noticed that bullet hole was -"

Area Resident #2
"Yes, the little baby on the bed is for my neighbor. She lives closer to the river where the thing was happening, so I told her to come inside and bring her baby here."

Monica Bodden
"About how many shots you think you heard this morning?"

Area Resident #2
"Miss, I don't know if it was more than a hundred, exactly, but it was definitely more than 50. And it was high-powered weapons they were using too."

The bank reported to police that $230,000 dollars were stolen, but so far police have only counted $160,000 thousand dollars and were still counting.

First Caribbean Bank issued a press release today saying that the Belcan Branch will remain closed until further notice.

The bank says that no members of staff and no customers were physically injured during the robbery. Counseling services have been made available to the branch to assist members of staff who were shaken up.

As for police, they believe others were involved in the robbery. Presently, they are looking for 3 suspects.