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A press release from the Ministry of National Security says it occurred in the general vicinity of the main temple in plain view of several tourists and tour operators. Today the BDF Adjutant, Lt Col. Raymond Shepherd told us more about the incident. He says the BDF at Tapir Camp in the Pine Ridge received a distress call at 12:10 from the two tourism police officers to say that they were coming under fire:..

Lt. Col. Raymond Shepherd, Commander, Chief of Staff - BDF
"On behalf of the commander, office admin of the Belize Defence Force I would like to express our condolences to the family and friends of the deceased, to the Belize Police Department and in particular the Belize Tourist Police Unit."

Daniel Ortiz
"Now sir, discuss with us what you guys have been able to establish on the ground in the Caracol Archaeological Reserve?"

Lt. Col. Raymond Shepherd
"We received a call about 10 minutes after 12 earlier this afternoon that the tourism police at Caracol had captured 5 horses and they are requesting a backup as they are receiving fire from the xateros."

Daniel Ortiz
"When you guys got this information, what was the response from the BDF?"

Lt. Col. Raymond Shepherd
"We had BDF patrol in the immediate area and they responded. They arrive at the location at about 30 minutes later, they did a sweep of the area where they found the lifeless body of the police with 3 gunshot wounds to the left side of the his body."

Daniel Ortiz
"We are told that he was in the company of another officer from the same police unit. Can you tell us if you guys had any discussions with that individual?"

Lt. Col. Raymond Shepherd
"Yes, our patrol on the ground had spoken to him and initially he informed them that after the police fell to the ground, the xatero came up to the body and remove the firearm from him and then they made good their escape in the westerly direction towards the Guatemalan border."

Daniel Ortiz
"Has the officer describe to you the details as to what happened after the horses were confiscated?"

Lt. Col. Raymond Shepherd
"Yes, about 5 minutes later they came under fire from the xateros."

Daniel Ortiz
"Did he discuss with you how many of these persons were firing on both of them?"

Lt. Col. Raymond Shepherd
"No, not exactly."

Daniel Ortiz
"Can you tell us the details as to circumstances surrounding these police officers and their posting at the Caracol Archaeological Reserve?"

Lt. Col. Raymond Shepherd
"Yes from what I understand there are two tourism police officer that is station at Caracol on a permanent basis."

Daniel Ortiz
"Is it the norm that these officers operate by themselves? At what point do they interact with officers of the BDF who may be in the area?"

Lt. Col. Raymond Shepherd
"Whenever we do patrol in the area, we do link up with them and they provide information as to sighting of xateros in the area. We do conduct patrol in that area as routine basis on a minimum of two time per week and on a daily basis once we have tourists going into that location. The BDF escort the tourists from the Silva Camp to Caracol and back on a daily basis."

Daniel Ortiz
"Were there anyone else in the area at the time of this shooting?"

Lt. Col. Raymond Shepherd
"We understand that there were 12 tourists on location at the time."

Daniel Ortiz
"Is there any precedent for something like this where a law man has been killed by what is believe to be Guatemalan xateros?"

Lt. Col. Raymond Shepherd
"No, it is a very sad day for us. This is the first time that we have experience such incident. We suspect it involves foreign people and therefore Foreign Affairs needs to get involved."

Daniel Ortiz
"Is it something that concerns that persons who are doing illegal activities in the area have now escalated to the point of killing law men in the area?"

Lt. Col. Raymond Shepherd
"Right, it shows that they are resolve in doing what they have been doing and they will go to any extent. Therefore we have to exercise as you would expect more caution."

Daniel Ortiz
"When these incidents happen and there is no determining evidence which points to them being Guatemalans who may have perpetrated this particular instance at this particular incident - there is always that rebuttal that how do we know that they are Guatemalans. In this case are able to say with some certainty?"

Lt. Col. Raymond Shepherd
"Well primarily, you have to base off the report of the police that is still alive and whatever evidence we could gather from the scene. At the moment there is a representative from the OAS on location doing an initial report."

San Ignacio CIB and Scenes of Crime personnel were deployed to the crime scene. They arrived the around 4:00pm, and at this hour, the body is at the San Ignacio morgue.

A Ministry of National Security release says that quote, "additional security personnel have been deployed to the Caracol Archaeological Site to ensure the safety of the hundreds of visitors who frequent the site." End quote.