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There was another grenade blast in Belize City last night – it is the fourth such explosion since May of 2008 – and the fifth grenade incident since that time. And last night’s explosion picked up right where Thursday night’s news left off: at Kraal Road – an area that has been targeted for sustained attacks since last week. But last night – there was no idle gunplay; at about 7:15 pm the powerful blast of a grenade shook the neighbourhood.

Here’s what we know at this point:

• One 14 year old, Rudolph Flowers was killed;
• Two others were injured; they are 28 year old Leon Williams and 32 year old Kenneth Barrow. Both have been treated and released for relatively minor injuries.
• One person of interest is detained. Police have gone on record to say they believe it is the product of a rivalry between George Street and Kraal Road gangs.
• The grenade was a British type defensive L109a1grenade – one of 24 of the type of grenade that went missing from BATSUB in 2004.

And while that’s a broad outline of the facts as we know them at this time, we have the full story behind it. 7News has been on the scene since shortly after the blast last night. Jules Vasquez begins our team coverage.

Jules Vasquez Reporting,
Police kept our camera 300 feet from the scene – at the corner of Neal’s Pen and Kraal Roads. Residents of Kraal Road huddled within a yard diagonally across from the blast site, seeming confused perplexed and worried. Police guarded the intersection with Pen Road – where last week a gunman came to fire shots while a Scenes of Crime team was on site.

This time a Crimes Intelligence Unit officer stood on the lookout, his trigger finger on the ready. But he wouldn’t need it on this night nor would the BDF need the very heavy weaponry they brought out. This patrol was brought in as a response to the explosion to maintain order in the area. But apart from this lamenting family member of the deceased – who did not want to go on camera, the area was cool – almost as if this bomb blast was expected. The residents of Kraal Road knows there’s a war going on and they are in the middle of it.

Three hours after we got on the scene, police finally allowed us access to the area where the grenade was thrown: The grenade blast was contained to this area – inside a yard at the corner of Haynes and Kraal Road. See all those marks on the concrete fence? Those are the impressions where the fragments of shrapnel pocked the wall.

Here, this depression on the ground is where the grenade landed and the adjoining wall bears the marks of the shrapnel at close range – look at how it tore up the concrete wall. Dozens of deep depressions in the concrete show how powerful the explosive is. This motorcycle was damaged as well. An adjoining septic tank was also damaged and this old couch was banged and blown through.

This is the view of the fence from outside, it was broken from before. And BDF bomb experts Majors Jones and Requena told us that all things considered it would have been worse if the Grande had landed out in the open street. Jones explained that the blast was to some extent contained by the concrete wall and the fence.

Commissioner Jeffries himself examined the area when he arrived after 11:00. Police and BDF conferred on the scene – they spoke about the explosive – the type used, the dangers posed. But for police it is a far more complex issue – they are caught in the position of reacting to another act of urban terrorism.

Crispin Jeffries, Commissioner of Police
“We know that the fourteen year old died, we know that the two who were injured were treated and released. One has in fact been interviewed by the police, the second is being sought to be interviewed. We have in fact found something that relates to the firing mechanism of the grenade and we are searching for more. We can confirm that there is some similarity to this grenade and other grenades. That is all I can quickly say.”

Jules Vasquez,
“Were the people who were hit, were they the targets?”

Crispin Jeffries,
“The intended targets, yes.”

Jules Vasquez,
“Now you said it was aimed for the intended targets but the 14 year old was just an innocent bystander.”

Crispin Jeffries,
“Not necessarily. He hangs out in that area too and he has been arrested, he has in fact been remanded so he is in fact a part of what happens in that neighbourhood. We know for a fact that that specific yard, one can buy marijuana there and so we don’t know if that is the case and this is a little bit revealing but this is the reality in that neighbourhood.”

Jules Vasquez,
“We know that at the corner of Kraal Road and Haynes there is a police camera right there. Is it not working?”

Crispin Jeffries,
“The camera is working. I can actually invite you to see footage bur the camera does not have the night vision capabilities.”

Jules Vasquez,
“Is there any idea what rivalry produced this?”

Crispin Jeffries,
“We have reason to believe this is an ongoing situation between elements from the southside of Belize City, rivalling groups.”

Jules Vasquez,
“Do you all really know what’s happening because all of us hear so many stories about who throw the grenade, it is so hard to actually know whose pulling what string?”

Crispin Jeffries,
“Well we know for a fact that there has been some partial identification of two persons who might have been involved in the throwing of the grenade and we do know that there is in fact some things happening in the street and there is in fact a lot of conspiracy theories and I don’t want to get into any conspiracy theories but I do know that there are things happening that we believe we can quickly slow this thing down, if not stop it.”

But where was the ability or the will to stop it before it happened? So, seeing Soldiers on the street and sirens lighting up the night will for a while become an everyday reality on Kraal Road – but will it be enough to create peace or to hold it...?

And if we go back to that broken fence we showed you in that story; the area covered in plywood proved critical – because the shrapnel blasted through that to injure one of the victims who was standing on the street. And the man we identified as Major Jones is properly Lieutenant Colonel David Jones.