Leal said, ?I was supposed to receive $2,000, but as I was counting the money, I found out that the money was not correct, so I told him that he gave me only $1,800.?

Marvin then went into his room and returned with the balance of $200, and handed it to Leal.

As the money was being given to Leal, two masked men, one of them armed with a small handgun, stormed through the back door.

Leal recalled, ?They pointed the gun at me ?I handed the money over to the man armed with the gun, saying for him not to shoot me.?

Leal explained that he walked a few steps backwards and tried to open the door. That was when the gunman hit him on the head with the handgun, he said.

He said that the gunman then ordered him to get down on the floor, and then he pushed him down, but Leal said he attempted to take away the gun from the robber.

Leal said, ?As I held the gun, I shouted for my wife, who was downstairs in the van waiting for me. That was when the man pulled [away] his hand in which he held the gun. I let go of the gun and then he shot me in the left side of my chest.?

Leal was able to run down the front stairs to his vehicle, while the men ran out of the house.

His wife, Michelle Leal, 40, immediately transported him to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital where he received treatment for a one-inch cut wound on his head, and had an x-ray of the chest. He was later taken to the Belize Medical Associates Limited, where he underwent further medical treatment for the gunshot wound after another x-ray was done, and he was released the day after, Tuesday, February 1.

Police later arrested Leal?s tenant, Marvin Mitchell, and charged him with robbery.

This morning, Mitchell appeared in the Belize City Magistrate?s Court, where he was arraigned in courtroom #6.

Mitchell, who pleaded not guilty to the charge, was remanded to the Hattieville Prison until Thursday, February 24, when he is scheduled to reappear in court.

Magistrate Earl Jones presided over the court.