Grenade number 7 explodes in Belize City

A loud bang shattered across Port Loyola last Friday night just after seven p.m. Memories of Mayflower Street and the Carnival Day grenade echoed into the night. Near the junction with Kraal and Fabers road, the neighbourhood was afraid, fragments tore into trees and walls and a large hole was found in a yard. But despite the smoke in the air, no one was injured. A.S.P. Crispin Jefferies and the B.D.F.’s bomb expert were immediately deployed to the area. Jose Sanchez brings the details of Friday night’s grenade explosion.

A loud explosion was heard across from a field near Faber’s Road, Caesar Ridge and Kraal Road after seven pm on Friday November fourteenth. It was a grenade that went off but fortunately no one was injured.

Voice of Witness
“I di get clothes and pampers fi go clean up dehn when dis loud bang. All I could dah mi do dah just go pan di bed and cova she down while di next one mi deh inna di hall wid my aunty dehn. me and my three sista dehn we come out but my cousin ova deh tell we go back in cause dah wah grenade and dats why we come back in. when everything ease down den I gone fi my ma. Dat dah all we happen.”

Marion Ali
“When you came outside what you see?”

Voice of Witness
“Out yah mi smell like smoke, dat dah all weh happen.”

Marion Ali
“Nobody neva deh round?”

Voice of Witness
“Only my cousin mi deh downstairs. Dehn mi deh downstairs, my bredda mi just di lef. Dat dah all.”

Marion Ali
“Weh dehn tell yoh?”

Voice of Witness
“He come up and he mi di tell my granny dat dah wah grenade just burst ova deh. My she get frighten cause di whole house start to shake and di TV just gone off for a while.”

Hortence Crawford, Witness
“As I seh mek I go straighten di bed and as I get up Boom! And I drop back. I seh oh my God dah weh dat and mi poor daughter deh out deh. Yoh mean we wah dead and she no even deh yah? Dat dah weh I seh. Di lee one di holla gun mama, gun mama. All ah dehn pile up inna di corner deh and di sleep and me deh right yah. Mi next lee granddaughter mi di sit down deh and dehn seh di TV gone off. And two ah di light gone off so I couldn’t gone nowhere. I sit down deh and when I look ih come back on and I tell dehn dah weh happen, dah weh all ah dat fah? Weh dehn di do dehn thing like dat fah? Di lee one deh weh di talk mi deh inside ah di room fi go pan trip, so ih di put ih thing dehn together. When I gone in ih say mama, something stin me right deh so. When ih look up ih seh oh come ma, mek I show yoh. When I gone in deh and I gone. I seh oh my God, I seh we inna wah serious position. I seh no, I come back and sit down. Over years I live yah, dis neva happen yet.”

David Henderson, Sr. Superintendent of Police
“The area was being visited by members of the police department where a small hole of about five inches in diameter and two inches deep was seen. We also observed pellet hole on a nearby building. The area was processed by the Scenes of Crime personnel and an investigation was then launched by our department.”

After the investigation was launched the police realized that this incident was one for Major James Requena, the B.D.F.’s Bomb expert.

Major James Requena, B.D.F. Bomb Expert
“All indications is that it was an offensive grenade. At the present time I cannot say what type until I find the fly-off lever or the pin. But definitely it’s an offensive grenade because we have recovered five shrapnels so far. Offensive grenades are designed and they have at least two hundred or two hundred and fifty broken down parts or shrapnels and when the explosion goes, as you can see from the fence, it goes through metal, trees, anything until the velocity finishes.

Requena dug in the ground, climbed over a fence, dug into trees and walls looking for shrapnel and the fly-off lever, the evidence that would be proof that it was a grenade that exploded.

Major James Requena
“I went immediately back to the area where the explosion had occurred. Within the hole itself, we were able to retrieve at least twenty more fragments. My major search Saturday morning was on trying to find the fly-off lever which would give us specifics because it contains data in regards to the explosive that was being used. We weren’t able to find it and up to now we still haven’t’ found it.”

Requena revisited the theory that it was dropped and at today’s press conference at the Racoon Street Police Station, he said it could have been thrown to the spot.

Major James Requena
“It can be thrown. There is a possibility that it was thrown and there is a possibility that people that congregated in that corner of the yard were using it and it fell and then they just disappeared out of the area. But I think the previous, that somebody threw it, is a more safe assumption at this time.”

Voice of Witness
“Whole ah mi face yah so still di burn me. Dat dah di most thing, ih feel like peppa spray pan yoh face. But my baby I know she mussy feel it worse because she start to scream and all ah dat. And all I could ah mi do dah put she pan di bed and no move.”

Major James Requena
“This is an offensive grenade, this is designed to kill. Whoever has these things, and I appeal again, please hand them in because you don’t know what you’re doing. You’re not trained to use them and you will endanger yourself and your loved ones. Don’t play with these things. These stuff are designed for war.”

And while the authorities won’t admit it, there is a war of sorts on the streets to control drug and other illicit trades. Reporting for News Five, Jose Sanchez.