By Wendy Anders

Yesterday at rush hour in downtown San José, police were alerted to a robbery of a small jewellery store on 6th Avenue between 6th and 8th Street, related Walter Espinoza, head of the Judiciary Investigative Agency (OIJ), in a press conference today.

Upon arriving at the scene shortly after 6:00 p.m., the two armed robbers were seen leaving the store and getting on their motorcycle. Police identified themselves and asked the robbers to stop. The two men pointed their guns at the officers, and the officers reacted by shooting at the men.

One man, identified as Gabriel Bonilla Briones, a 27-year-old Costa Rican man from Hatillo, a southern San José district, was hit in the chest by a bullet fired by the police and was pronounced dead at the scene of the crime. Bonilla had no prior police record.

The other, also a Costa Rican from Hatillo, was hit in the thorax and was brought to the hospital in serious condition. The second suspect, 25-year-old Luis Enrique Campos, does have a police record for carrying illegal firearms.

The two men had parked a motorcycle in front of the jewellery store, which La Nación, Costa Rica’s main Spanish daily, said is called El Flaco, and entered with their helmets on and their weapons out. They quickly snatched whatever jewellery they could before nervously fleeing the store, as captured in a clip from the store’s security camera and published on the El Diario Extra, a Costa Rican tabloid, website.

Police found two weapons at the scene, a 38 caliber and a 9 mm pistol, that belonged to the robbers, said Espinoza. Both had their identification numbers altered, indicating the guns were most likely acquired illegally.

Police also recovered the stolen jewellery after the stand-off. The store owners estimated the goods they had attempted to steal were valued at CRC 8,000,000 (around $14,600).

Luckily no bystanders were hurt. Hundreds gathered around the densely transited area after the gunshots were heard, according to reports late yesterday in local media.