A gunman shot him four times when he went to buy boledo

Paul Alvarez, 20, a resident of Lovely Lane in Belize City, is fighting for his life at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital after he was shot four times by a gunman who fired about six shots at him at about 7:30 p.m. today, Thursday, in the Ming Ming Shop on Lovely Lane. He was shot in his shoulders, stomach, arm, and leg.

Alvarez’s mother told Amandala that they live in the Lovely Lane area, and her son Paul had just gone to the Chinese store to buy number (lottery), when shortly after, she heard shots fired.

A neighbor came and told her that Paul had just been shot, and when she ran outside, she saw his friend bringing him on his shoulder. She immediately took a car and rushed him to the KHMH.

Paul told his mother that while going to the store, he saw the man, but did not pay attention to him. When he arrived in the store, he heard a gun cock, and when he turned around, the man fired at him.

Alvarez used the 5-gallon water bottle he was carrying to help defend himself, and the man fired about six shots at him, before escaping.

He told his mother he believed that the shooting was as a result of an altercation that happened yesterday by the Supreme Court Building, when he and his friend beat up a man who had stoned a pint bottle at them while he and his friends were washing a car behind the court house.

The police had called them together and had advised him to press charges against the man for throwing the bottle at them, but they had declined.

The mother said that when she heard the shots, she became worried, because Paul had just gone out, while his girlfriend said that it was firecrackers exploding. She had advised him not to go, but he was adamant that he would win, and wanted to buy the boledo number.

Alvarez has been declared serious, but stable.

Police have launched an investigation, but no one has yet been arrested.