U.S. Tourist Killed In Guatemala

Gunmen in southwestern Guatemala hijacked a minibus carrying 13 American tourists and opened fire Wednesday, killing a man from Utah.

The bus left the mountain city of Quetzaltenango and was heading for the Mexican border when it was intercepted by five men in a Chevy pickup outside the town of Colomba, 125 miles southwest of the capital, Guatemala City.

The gunmen forced the tour-bus off the road and climbed aboard with guns blazing, said Jose Boch, a spokesman for police in Retalhuleu, a city 25 miles from the scene of the attack.

Brett Richard, 52, of Rose, Utah, sustained a gunshot wound to the thorax. The Guatemalan driver of the bus, whose name was not released, was injured when a bullet struck his right ankle.

All of the other tourists were from Utah, although authorities did not immediately release their hometowns.

The assailants robbed everyone onboard the bus, then sped away, leaving a mortally wounded Richard to die, Boch said. They remained at large late Wednesday night.

Police officers arriving to the scene of the crime rushed Richard to a Retalhuleu hospital, but he died in the back of the ambulance, Boch said.

While the Guatemalan driver was treated for his injury, no one else was injured in the attack. The remaining tourists were taken to a Mormon center in Retalhuleu, Boch said.