Guised As Potential Employees, Four Men Shot Guard And Beat Up Manager to Rob the Place
With the guise of looking for work, but really looking to rob the place, four men arrived at the Gas Tomza, located in Cartago and within minutes shot the guard and beat up the manager and made off with ¢3 million colones (us$5.900).

The four men presented themselves at the gates of the company minutes before 9am, asking the guard for any employment opportunities, a regular occurrence at many large companies around the country. According to Herbert Mérida, general manager of Tomza, the guard thought nothing more of it, allowing the men to enter the installation, with papers in hand ready to fill out job applications.

Once inside the installation, the anti-socials took out their firearms, forcing the guard, Manuel Cerdas Calderón, who in his attempt to sound the alarm received a bullet to the, ouch, testicles.

Once the guard was incapacitated, the four men moved to the main offices where they beat Carlos Villalobos, financial manager, forcing him to open the vault and proceeded to beat him in the process.

The four men got away before police could be alerted. A call to 911 saw the quick movement of local police who set up roadblocks in Ochomogo, Paraiso, Coris and Tres Rios, all four directions that the men could have taken in their getaway, however, came up empty handed.

Police beleive that the men are linked to a series of attacks on other Cartago businesses, including the Megasuper on Tuesday night where the group made off with ¢3 million colones as well.

Police say that this is the second time that Gas Tomza has been hit in less than a month, when four men took us$9.000 from the company in the first assault.

All around the country it is common for potential workers to approach the guard offices of large companies asking for work. And it is a common practice to give out employment forms and answer questions. At many companies the security is tight, however, at many others it is less than adequate.