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Anguish In August Pine Ridge Over Nonagenarian’s Murder
posted (June 16, 2017)
Last night we told you about the killing of a 90 year old shopkeeper in August Pine Ridge Village in Orange Walk. Tonight, more is known about the very disturbing and diabolical murder and robbery. 7News went to Orange Walk to speak Pablo Pol's family and found that the elderly shopkeeper was killed for just a few dollars:...

Jules Vasquez reporting
Pol's Shop on the August Pine Ridge Road. Apart from a Coca Cola sign out front, there's not much to it. But yesterday two hispanic men who had been seen on this August Pine Ridge Road went into the store and pounced on the 90 year old owner and proprietor, Pablo Pol, viciously beating and robbing him.

A customer found him on the floor, and called the family. A niece was the first to respond:

Maradona Blanco, Daughter of deceased
"My niece reached first and she came in she saw my dad lying on the floor and then she ask my dad."

She called her uncle who came to find his father in distress:

Terrenfio Pol, Son of deceased
"I found my father here, thrown in this corner. He had the ropes around his hand, all bruised up. He had a towel around his neck. When I picked him up, he was already turning stiff. And everyone started to run fast, and that's when my son in law brought his vehicle and took him to the hospital."

He got to the hospital around three, but by 3:55 the elderly shopkeeper was dead.

Maradona Blanco, Daughter of deceased
"They told us that he have a cut on his face and on his head and blood was coming out from his ears and he have bruises on the back and I think they wanted the watch, because he had a watch and he got a scratch up on his hand."

Now, his widow is left to grieve on his own - and this shocked, saddened community wants justice:

Terrenfio Pol, Son of deceased
"In broad daylight at 2:30 in the afternoon, they are robbing the people. This is not justice. We want justice. We ask the police for justice. But if there is no justice what can we do?"

Rafael Ramos, Chairman
"I ask the law to do something about what has happened, because no one feels safe nowadays. I say it for myself, I say it for these families which are feeling pain today, and for each of the families that lives in this village. No one will understand the pain, until it happens to one of your family."

And all for what? The thieves made off with a few dollars from these drawers:

Terrenfio Pol, Son of deceased
"As you can see, his cash register is empty. There is nothing inside. There are other items that they took from the shelves."

Maradona Blanco, Daughter of deceased
"For me it's a shame, because as you know an old man, he doesn't have the strength that a young man have and then it was not necessary to do what they did. They could have tied him and done, but not hurt him what they did. That's a lot what they did."

Rafael Ramos, Chairman
"I am very sorry about what has happened today. Everything that happened and doesn't happen in this village, I feel responsible."

Pol's family says he had less than fifty dollars in the drawer. A few notes, he was attacked at around 2:30 and died at 3:55 at the Northern Regional Hospital. His shop was more or less at the center of the village, right beside the park, and across from two other shops.

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