On the night of Sunday, a targeted drive-by shooting rocked the community of Orange Walk, leaving a local man identified as Byron Diaz with multiple gunshot wounds and prompting a rapid law enforcement response that has resulted in two suspects being taken into police custody, authorities confirmed this week.
In an official press briefing held early Monday morning, Assistant Commissioner of Police Hilberto Romero, who leads the country’s National Crimes Investigation Branch, outlined the sequence of events that led to the incident. According to Romero’s account, at approximately 11:30 p.m. local time, Diaz was seated inside a pickup truck alongside a second man when two individuals riding on a motorcycle pulled alongside the vehicle and opened fire before fleeing the scene.
In the immediate aftermath of the attack, Diaz was rushed to a nearby medical facility for urgent care. Romero confirmed in his remarks that the victim remains hospitalized as of the briefing, but his condition has been listed as stable, alleviating early concerns that his injuries could be life-threatening.
Preliminary investigative work conducted by law enforcement has already uncovered a potential motive for the brazen public shooting. The attack, Romero confirmed, grew out of an ongoing personal conflict between Diaz and another individual connected to the area. Importantly, he added that local police had never received any prior formal report regarding the dispute, meaning authorities had no advance warning of the impending violence.
The case remains active and ongoing, with investigators continuing to piece together full details of the attack and build their legal case against the two detained suspects.