Two men are facing charges in related incidents that occurred on Thursday night, October 30.
Soldier Belarmino Quiroz, 33, told police that as he left the Attic Bar on Hudson Street in San Ignacio Town around 12:10 a.m. Thursday, he was held up by three male Hispanics dressed in dark clothing, one of whom pulled out a “shiny-looking” gun and placed it to his side, searched him, and stole his 9mm Beretta service pistol, which contained a magazine with 15 live rounds of ammunition, valued at $1,800.
Quiroz further claimed he was tied up and thrown into a car with a crocus bag over his head, taken to an undisclosed location, and beaten unconscious.
Police had detained one person, but subsequent investigations cast doubt on Quiroz’s story. Notably, Quiroz had failed to report the robbery to police, who suspected he was just making it up. Police only knew of Quiroz’s allegations when they went to look him up in relation to the recovered firearm, which their investigations had determined to be his.
And their suspicions were confirmed when police found the 9mm, with 7 rounds, in the bushes off Collins Boulevard in San Ignacio Town, thrown there by a man they had pursued in the area just an hour after Quiroz was supposedly robbed.
Acting on reports received of shots being fired, police caught up with Bedalfo Chen, 22, who was charged for keeping unlicensed firearm and ammunition. No one was hurt in this incident.
Senior Superintendent Paul Wade today told Amandala that checks at the bar with customers revealed that a reportedly heavily-intoxicated Quiroz had in fact used the 9mm allegedly stolen from him to assault a female bartender earlier that night after they got into an argument. At that time, two young men apparently took away the firearm with the intent of stopping Quiroz from harming the woman. It is this weapon that police later recovered from Chen, whom police say was one of the men in the bar that subdued Quiroz.
Quiroz now faces charges of aggravated assault and committing a mischievous act for the false report.