Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 30, 1994 TAG: 9401300151
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D-13 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SPOTSYLVANIA LENGTH: Medium
On a highway in El Salvador, a group of bandits shot and robbed the Spotsylvania County man of his money, Christmas presents and the sport/utility vehicle he planned to give his parents.
"I'm very happy I did not die, my family is happy that the people did not kill me, but . . . I never had a Christmas that sad," Canales said.
Canales, a cook at La Petite Auberge restaurant in Fredericksburg, has recovered from his wounds. But the memory of the carjacking still haunts him.
"I won't go back for a long time now," he said. "It will take a couple of years to forget."
He was traveling in early December with his 17-year-old son, Edwin, to his parents' home in San Miguel, El Salvador. By the afternoon of the eighth day of the trip, Dec. 7, Canales was near Zacatecoluca, just two hours away from his family's home.
He heard a gun go off. He realized he'd been shot in the leg, and his car swerved. Canales stopped the car, and he was shot again, this time in the arm.
The thieves used their car to block Canales' car. One of them opened Canales' door and pulled him out. A man hit him in the chest with the barrel of a machine gun, while another man held a handgun to his son's head and took the boy's watch.
In less than five minutes, two of the thieves drove off with Canales' car, taking with them $1,000 in cash and $4,000 worth of gifts, including a stereo, a television, clothes, a camera, a watch and kitchen and household appliances.
After about 15 minutes, a truck driver stopped and took Canales and his son to a hospital.
Police in El Salvador captured three of the bandits the day after the attack. They are in jail awaiting trial. Police recovered the cash, the car, the television and Edwin Canales' watch. But most of the gifts were never found.
Canales said his native country has become much more violent in recent years. "There are too many people, and no work. Now you don't want to go there. It's very sad."
by CNB