Citizen's Arrest!

It was an interesting walk home from school on Thursday.  Greg and I both finished teaching early, so we left around 1:30pm.  We took our normal path home, walking down the main boulevard. As we approached the supermarket, Jumbo, we noticed a lot of commotion.  There were people gathering around watching something and occasionally we would see a person go running by.  We walked up to the crowd pretty hesitantly and noticed the Jumbo employees all standing outside of the building.  Then we saw someone we knew, so we asked him what was going on.  He told us that just a few minutes before Jumbo had been robbed.  Not all of the details were clear, but apparently a man came in alone (presumably with a weapon), held up a cashier, then took off running down the boulevard on foot.  As we were learning about all of this, a jumbo employee came running up saying that the thief had been caught!  Literally, one block away (in the direction toward our apartment), people were holding the robber down in the parking lot of a bank.  This of course drew even more spectators which we had to weave through to get home.  Even traffic was stopped!  We did, however, get a glimpse of the perpetrator as we passed by.  He was a young guy probably in his late 20s or early 30s.  Not sure what was going to happen to him, but definitely a bad situation.  Sadly, things like this happen all the time Honduras.  This was not the first time that we witnessed a robbery here, however, it is one of the few times the thief was actually caught.  Unfortunately, some people fear that crime will be on the rise here since the government recently passed a law increasing the minimum wage to more than double what it was previously.  Sure, many employees deserve higher wages, however, most companies cannot afford to double employees salaries.  So instead, businesses have been forced to cut employees.  Now, the lucky ones that were able to keep their jobs will be doing the work done previously by several employees for an increased salary, but leaving many people unemployed losing their entire income.  It is a tough situation and several people we know have already been negatively affected by it – and I am sure that is just the beginning of it!   We can just pray for those without employment and hope something good can come out of this!   

GOD BLESS YOU!