According to police, it was a plastic bag that saved scores, possibly hundreds of Belizeans from grisly death and crippling, life-threatening injuries on Saturday evening when the bag, tightly wound about an “attack” grenade, prevented the lever from activating when the pin was removed and the grenade thrown near a car parked on the grounds of the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. This took place while the annual Carnival Road March was passing along Princess Margaret Drive. Police, when called to the scene, found the grenade on the parking lot of the KHMH.
Just before the grenade was found, wild gunplay had broken out on Lizarraga Street, off Princess Margaret Drive. The annual Carnival Road March was just coming to an end, not too far away from the Marion Jones Sports Complex,
It is not known how the shooting began, though some say the trouble began with the breaking of bottles. Police say that a number of citizens who had licensed guns began firing at the gunmen, which added to the terror of the Carnival participants, who panicked and fled to safety away from the firing, some dodging behind any available cover that they could find.
Reports are that a number of people were injured in the pandemonium that erupted as they scrambled to put distance between them and the shooting.
Danger even worse than the terrifying gunfire lurked on the grounds of the KHMH, where many people had innocently gathered to watch the carnival pass by. Police reported that around 5:35 p.m., on Saturday, September 6, they received information that that a hand grenade was thrown in the area of the KHMH on its Princess Margaret Drive side. When police responded, they found the hand grenade in a black plastic bag on the parking lot near to the entrance of the KHMH compound. Police said that their initial investigation indicated that sometime while the Carnival Parade was passing, someone threw the bag with the grenade, which did not detonate.
The grenade is a high explosive fragmentation grenade that is designed for military offensive use. It has a 3-4 second delay mechanism, and it has a 50-foot radius, in which all victims would probably die. About 100 feet is the grenade’s casualty radius, and a BDF bomb expert, Major Requeña, said that the explosion would also have blown out the windows of the surrounding buildings, such as the hospital, the Alliance Bank and the Social Security headquarters, which are nearby.
Police sealed off the area, after some difficulty in getting people to move, and Major Requeña, eventually and heroically neutralized the grenade.
A number of callers on KREM’s Wake Up Belize Morning Vibes (WUB) expressed outrage at how the two situations were handled and called on the authorities to address the situation.
Marilyn Williams, one of the callers to KREM’s WUB this morning, told Amandala that she was standing on Princess Margaret Drive in the vicinity of the University of the West Indies School of Continuing Studies. It was after 6:00 p.m., and it was already beginning to get dark, Williams said.
“The Carnival march was near the end. I knew it was not finished because I could see the other group coming. We were standing with our cameras ready to take pictures. The first thing I heard was bottles breaking. I knew that that came from right across the street. That was the beginning of the mayhem. It seemed like the breaking of the bottles was endless, then the gunshots started.
“Shock set in. I cannot remember running. I found myself behind a vehicle. I was on the median of the street and suddenly I found myself ducking behind this vehicle. Then there was a pause. A man came to us and said you guys have to move from here. The gunshots seem to be coming from all around.
“Derek Aikman, his wife and one of his young daughters, were crouched behind the same vehicle that I was. Derek said to me, don’t move. Don’t go anywhere, because you don’t know what you are going into. After he told me that, I crouched down back to where I was. There was a pause, then it started again. Several police vehicles passed by. There were a lot of activities. Crowds of people were running in all directions.
“I had just picked up my brother and his wife from the airport. His wife is in a wheelchair. Derek told me that the police were taking care of my brother and his wife. So I asked a policeman who was nearby if it was okay to go and get my vehicle. I told him where it was parked. He said it was okay. As soon as I moved off to get my vehicle, the shooting started again. We stayed crouched down until the shooting stopped.
“A lady was looking for her small child. She was trying to call someone, but she did not have enough credit on her phone, so I loaned her my phone. She was eventually reunited with her kid. But the whole scene was chaos and mayhem.
“I think that I am suffering from post-traumatic stress. I am also concerned about the kids and older people. A lot of people were commenting on the fact that more people were not shot. But then there is the psychological stress that is left, the residual psychological effect.”
Williams concluded our interview by declaring that what happened on Saturday was an act of urban terrorism.
Ann Wade, another eyewitness who called KREM’s WUB this morning, later spoke to Amandala. Wade has family members who live at the junction of Princess Margaret Drive and Moguel Street.
“The end of the parade had already passed. I was moving my car from one side of the street to the other. A large part of my family was at the house on Moguel Street. Suddenly, people were running off Lizarraga Avenue. Some of them were shouting: dem di shoot back de.
“More people began running towards Princess Margaret Drive. I was looking out at the top of the fence. People began running from the opposite direction and converging on each other. People were hunkered down in the drain covering their children. At our yard we had to respond to people who wanted to come in. Total pandemonium and chaos began to take over. I saw three guys walking purposefully. They were not running. They walked onto Princess Margaret Drive. One of them had a gun in his hand.
“The whole scene was so chaotic that we had to let a whole lot of people into our yard. The only way I could describe it was panic. People were crouching down behind the fence. Young children were holding onto the older people’s legs. A family jumped out leaving their pick-up truck. It was a lady along with two other young ladies and two or three kids.
“The two things that stuck in my mind were the scene of people protecting their children in the drain and the children and other young persons who were crying.
“Then two police vehicles ended up at the corner of Lizarraga Avenue and Moguel Street. They were stopping people and searching them. People stayed in our yard until they felt that it was safe for them to come out. I saw policemen running up toward Princess Margaret Drive. They had big guns, assault rifles and they were dressed in olive green camouflage uniforms.”
Wade said that up to today, she is still traumatized from the occurrences of last Saturday evening.
Clement Palacio, the Police Press Officer, also weighed in on the discussion this morning on the WUB. Palacio told listeners that only two persons were shot in Saturday’s shootout. He did not, however, give any specifics on the “two” shooting victims.
But in the police press release, only one person is listed as having been shot in the Princess Margaret Drive area on Saturday evening around 5:40. And when police visited the KHMH trauma room, they found Harrison Haylock, 19, with apparent gunshot wounds to the right calf and left arm below his elbow.
The report went on to say that “police are looking for two suspects, known to them, as part of the investigation into the shooting incident.”