A thief who was shot by police after he robbed a cross-dresser on a Belmopan walkway in the area of Ambergris Avenue has been released from the Belmopan Hospital and from police custody after the transvestite adamantly refused to press charges against him.

The cross-dresser, known as “Vanessa Champagne Paris”, said that he didn’t want court action, only attention. Police then had to release the thief.

The incident occurred at about 10:30 Tuesday night, June 10, on the Ambergris Avenue sidewalk in Belmopan.

“Vanessa” told police that he was walking on the sidewalk that night when four men came out of the shadows and held him up. The four men stole his i-Phone and escaped, he said.

Police responded immediately to the report and found one of the thieves hiding in a tree along the sidewalk. He was ordered to come down, which he did, but in coming down from the three, he allegedly put his hand in a black bag that he had with him on the tree.

Police fired a shot which caught him on the right hand.

This is not the first time that “Vanessa” has been in trouble. While he was walking on Vernon Street in Belize City in April of this year, he was chased and beaten by a mob. No one was arrested for that attack.