(QCostarica) Should we be worried? Maybe not, but certainly concerned for the start of a trend of citizens, frustrated over a judicial system that appears to reward criminals, taking the law into their hands.
It was 2:30 in the afternoon on Sunday, in the area of San Francisco de Heredia, on the main road that connects with Alajuela, when a driver struck and killed two motorcyclists in preventing the pair from fleeing the scene after they apparently tried to rob a woman.
According to witnesses and the police report, the driver (identified by his last name, Marquez) witnessed two men on a motorcycle try to grab the cellular phone of a young woman, but she struggled and the assailants took off empty handed.
That fact was witnessed by a driver and occupant of another vehicle (blue in colour) and the occupants of yet another (a yellow coloured vehicle).
Perhaps not wanting them to get away, Marquez took chase, followed the pair on the motorcycle and when nearing the Walmart store, hit the motorcycle from behind. The incident was recorded by a Heredia Municipal police camera.
According to the Heredia police, the impact seems a light one, yet, due to the speed of the vehicles, the driver of the motorcycle was thrown six metres (18 feet) while the driver landed some 12 metres away. Both died at the scene.
At this point Marquez kept going, himself fleeing the scene, but was intercepted in San Joaquin de Flores, almost 4 kilometres away from the scene of the impact, by a private security guard working for Walmart who had given chase on witnessing the accident.
Meanwhile, the driver and occupants in the yellow car witnessing the attempted grab of the young woman’s cell phone stayed to help her and give and account to judicial investigators.
The hit and run driver, Marquez, was in police custody and the vehicle impounded for examination.
Last week, on Thursday, another attempt at a robbery gone wrong ended up with two people dead and a police officer wounded, when a bodyguard (who was no licensed to carry a weapon) opened fire in a dentist’s office in Limon, twarting an attemped robbery. A preschool teacher who had just come out of the dentist chair was hit in the head; the assailant was killed; and, the off duty police officer is recovering in hospital from his gunshot wound.
On Friday, the Juzgado Penal de Limón (Limon Criminal Court) set fee the bodyguard, a 22 year old man identified by his last name, Green, who is being asked to sign in at the court every 30 days and cannot leave the country while judicial officials investigate.
The social media has been on fire with these two cases, mostly over the Sunday incident. The question being asked by many is: Is the start of a trend? Are we seeing people frustrated begin to take the law in their hands? Who will be next, me, you?
So, within days, in two separate incidents, four people were killed and one wounded by citizens foiling attempted robberies, It maybe too early to be worried, but definitely time to be concerned.
What is your opinion on people taking the law into their hands? Use the comment section below or post to our Facebook page your views.
