7 News Belize

Another Guatemalan Visitor Murdered In Belize City
posted (August 9, 2017)

Eight days ago we reported that Guatemalan visitor Josue Arizandieta died after he was robbed and shot a few days earlier. Â Tonight, another Guatemalan visitor is dead after he tried to stand up to armed robbers.  45 year old Ruben Esquivel Aguilar was visiting family in Belize and last night he got killed trying to defend them.  Alex Courtenay has the story:

Early this morning, Ruben Esquivel Aguilar and his sister were sleeping in her home on Mahogany Street when they started to hear noise coming from another part of the house. His sister locked herself in her bedroom while Aguilar went to see what was happening, and met two men, one armed with a gun, in the living room...

Deysi Esquivel - Niece of the deceased
"At 3:00 Am this morning, and ehm, well I wasn't here but they broke in my mom house and they killed him. I cannot really tell you exactly what happened because I wasn't here, but I guess he, I mean all they wanted was money and he didn't have any. My mom stayed in her room, locked up and she didn't come out. So, I don't know exactly what happened."

The burglars broke in through a bathroom window in the back of the house, and were searching for cash when Aguilar happened upon them. He was shot three times, one to the head, then his abdomen and arm. His sister called the police immediately after the shots were fired, and they arrived on the scene not long after

Supt. Daniel Arzu - OC, Southside Police
"Sometime around 3:30 this morning, police were called out to a house at Mahogany Street. There they observed the body of a male Hispanic person on the floor in the kitchen, motionless. With wounds consistent with what appears to be a gunshot. The police on their investigation learned that sometime around 3:20, just 10 minutes prior getting in contact with police, someone entered the building and there was the sound of some grumbling noise inside, and the sister of the person who was on the ground decided to lock herself in the room that she was in. And shortly after she heard her brother shouting out her name, and shortly after sounded gunshots"

The incident took place just one block away from the Mahogany Street Police Substation, but despite the proximity, the cops weren't able to track down the gunmen after they fled

Reporter
"Did these police see anything, see any men, you know, or a person leaving the scene? I mean it's so close."

Supt. Daniel Arzu
"It may be close, but there are a number of buildings within the proximity but she did that particular incident. The police responded quickly, and upon their arrival no one was found inside the premise, except for the deceased person and his sister."

Aguilar is originally from Guatemala, but has been living in the US for the last few years. He was planning to return to his home to be with his wife and three children, and had just stopped in Belize to visit his sister and her family

Deysi Esquivel
"He just came to visit us, and just to spend time with us, because he was going through some problems with his wife and so, but so he just wanted to spend time with us and he decided to come and maybe spend a month or two months with us."

Now Aguilar's family and police are trying to figure out what could have transpired in that living room that made these would be burglars become murderers

Supt. Daniel Arzu
"And we're now investigating and our investigation at this point in time is relatively young and we cannot establish a motive at this point in time, but we're investigating in relation to this particular incident."

Reporter
"So you're saying then that you are not sure if these men went there to burglarize this home?"

Supt. Daniel Arzu
"Well actually they break into the home and apparently inside the home the person was alerted that they were in there and that, there seems to be a struggle and as a result the person met his death, you know, due to the encountered."

Aguilar's family has not done a full sweep of the house to see if anything was taken, but they told us that at least $320 dollars is missing.

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