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And today police held a late afternoon press briefing to say they have good, hard evidence to back up those charges. First they say it was an act of retaliation between two rival Belize City gangs. According to investigators, a group of gang members were the ones being targeted when Richard Flores threw the grenade at the location where the men were standing to watch the carnival parade. The police however would not divulge the names of the players involved saying that at this time they do not want to prejudice the case but are very confident that what they have against the accused is strong enough to go to court. According to the police they have been able to establish that the grenade came from one of the training exercises held by the British Army Training Support Unit, BATSUB sometime over the past year but how it managed to end up on the streets and in the hands of Richard Flores is still under investigation.

Jacqueline Godwin,
What overwhelming evidence does the police have against Mr. Flores because information to us is that he could not have committed this crime because he is known an individual who is basically a base boy, a basketball fanatic, as I understand, who is more guilty of smoking weed, loitering, or even begging people for money. So what evidence, what strong evidence do the police have against the accused?

Insp. Hilberto Romero, Lead Investigator
“Well I cannot go into specifics as to the evidence but we conducted a thorough investigation, an intense investigation. We interviewed several persons, we watched several video clips, and based on the evidence we’ve gathered, we have sufficient to charge Richard Flores for throwing this grenade on that particular day.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
So he is the person that pulled the pin and threw the grenade?

Insp. Hilberto Romero,
“That is the information and the evidence that we have at this time, correct.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
What’s the primary motive?

Insp. Hilberto Romero,
“Well our investigation is showing that this was a gang related incident, it was a retaliation with two gangs. I do not want to get into specifics as to which two gangs but we have that it was gang related.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
Which gang is he a member of?

Insp. Hilberto Romero,
“Again I do not wish to divulge that information, we are still investigating and down the road we can probably put it out there.”

Jose Sanchez, News 5
“Have you done any searches of his premises or his home to see if they have any other similar explosives??

Insp. Hilberto Romero,
“Several searches have been conducted. We’re utilizing our K-9 section to help us with all the searches. As we speak right now, some searches are being conducted of persons that are affiliated with him to see if there are any more of these grenades out there. That is the information we have, there are members of the other gangs present and that is the reason that grenade was thrown.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
The police clearly do not want to reveal who are the gangs at play here but can you at least tell us, are they gangs from the south side or the north side, both from south side?

Insp. Hilberto Romero,
“It is gangs from the south side, also including from the north side, from both sides of the city.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
So a north side gang against a gang from the south side?

Insp. Hilberto Romero,
“Well it is not specifically north versus south, it is a combination so like I said I cannot go into specifics because that will take me into areas and things like that.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
But there are only two specific gangs?

Insp. Hilberto Romero,
“Two specific gangs that we are looking at for this particular incident.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
At the last police press conference, the police was really harping on the public assistance in really helping you guys in your investigation and I really do believe that it would be of some help if you all can at least reveal the people involved here because then in this way the public will know who they should be looking out for and if anything suspicious happens then they can contact the police.

Insp. Hilberto Romero,
“Like I said, we do not have exactly every person that is affiliated with these gangs. What I am saying is that we have these two gangs, within north side and south side, and on a later date if we need to release the names or whatever we can do that. But we cannot say exactly who is affiliated with what gang. We know it is a gang, they have their own members separately.”

Jose Sanchez,
“Do you think we will be able to have the names of the two guys prior to the September 21st celebrations?”

Insp. Hilberto Romero,
“I believe so yes, we could provide that definitely. This investigation is still ongoing. We all know grenades are not sold in Belize and we are investigating where this grenade came from, the origin, and we are looking to determine how this person managed to get this grenade.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
Just how deep and wide the police believe this trail of evidence will take them in their investigation?

Insp. Hilberto Romero,
“Well like I said we have sufficient evidence to put before a court and the investigation is in no way closed and we are looking for other persons who may have been involved and also we are looking if we can locate the persons who were responsible for passing this grenade to this person.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
When you say you’re looking to see if other persons may be involved, is your investigation only limited to the country of Belize or are you all going beyond our borders?

Insp. Hilberto Romero,
“Well for this particular investigation, we are only dealing with the country of Belize. I think we have information where this grenade originated from here.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
And so what we know so far is that yes the grenade went missing at one of these training exercises and somehow it ended up in the hands of Mr. Richard Flores but how it got into his hand, the police do not know?

Insp. Hilberto Romero,
“We do not know at this time, that is what we are working on and we are thoroughly investigating that part of it as well to see how come that grenade came into the streets of Belize City. An investigation is being conducted by BATSUB and upon the conclusion of their investigation, they will pass on that information to us. Like I mentioned we have sufficient evidence to put before a court and I don’t want to prejudice the trial but we believe we have sufficient evidence to put it before a court.”

Police would not reveal whether or not the video evidence they say they have against the accused shows Richard Flores throwing the grenade and running away from the scene but they say it is strong enough for them to have charged him with 13 counts of attempted murder and one count of carrying ammunition without a license. Police say further charges of attempted murder may still be brought against him.