By Oluatoyin Alleyne and Sara Bharrat
Fragments of a grenade were discovered at the scene of an explosion at the Stabroek Market Square today, which killed one man and injured 18 other persons, according to the police. According to a press release issued hours after the explosion, the dead man, who was known as ‘American’ was holding the grenade in his hand
when it exploded taking with it his left hand and partially damaging his face.
Up to the time the release was issued at 6.38 pm, police investigators were still at the Stabroek Market Square stall combing it and the immediate vicinity for evidence. The stall, owned by Mark ‘Bow-wow’ Hyman, was being stripped and dismantled by police at 1 pm. Hyman, a worker and other persons were assisting investigators.
‘American’ who usually hung around the Stabroek Market Square is yet to be fully identified. The persons injured were: Marvyn Adams, 30, of 248 First Street, Mocha, who had an injury to his left arm; Seon Barrow, 4, of 3 Bagotsville, West Coast Demerara (WCD), who had an injury to his left shoulder; Gampattie Mohanlall, 66, of 21 Timehri, East Bank Demerara (EBD), who had an injury to his left foot; Irfan Alli, 42, of 54 Stewartville, WCD, with injuries to his right eye and left thigh and Victorine Campbell, 76, of 19 New Hope, EBD with an injury to right shoulder. Meanwhile, Clayton Alleyne, 30, of 318 Kuru Kuru, Soesdyke Highway had an injury to his right eye; Egbert Austin, 40, of 74 Soesdyke, EBD had a puncture wound to the abdomen and was admitted to the Male Surgical Ward. Also injured were Ester Sutherland, 55, of 44 Palm Street, with an injury to the neck; Avis Davidson, 49, of 59 La Retraite WCD, who sustained burns about the body; Surujpattie Rajkumar, 63, of 213 Grove Squatting Area EBD with injuries to the left shoulder and skull; Sandra Harrilall, 33, of 81 Diamond Housing Scheme with injury to the right shoulder. In addition, Trefa Hinds, 31, of Cummings Lodge, ECD had injuries to the eyes and jaw; Dennis DeFreitas, 50, of 32 Robb Street sustained a puncture wound to the left forearm; Malvina David, 67, of 4 Aubrey Barker Road, South Ruimveldt had an injury to the right thigh; Randolph Browne, 34, of 538 Mocha Housing Scheme had injuries to the neck and upper leg; Allen Daniels, 50, of 23 Number 41 Village, West Coast Berbice had an injury to the chin; Edward Dalton, 38, of 76 Hyde Park, Timehri, EBD had injuries to the left leg, thigh and neck; Shane Wiggins, 28, of 33 1st Street, Herstelling, EBD was also injured as well as an unknown, male of African descent who had multiple injuries about the body.
There are two versions of what occurred at the stall just after 10.30 this morning. A man, who was in the vicinity of Hyman’s stall when the explosion occurred, reported that the dead man, who is yet to be identified, was cleaning the establishment. The deceased, the man explained, usually worked with Hyman and did his bidding.
The explosive device, which the man said he is convinced was a grenade, was somewhere in the area where the deceased had been cleaning. “He find this thing [the explosive] and start to fingle, fingle with it and then next thing you hear is this big ‘bladam’ and the thing blow up…after that was a set of black smoke and confusion,” the man said.
Several other persons in the area reported a second version. A woman, who sells at a nearby stand, told Stabroek News that she saw the deceased with “something” in his hands and shortly before the explosion he made a jerking movement.
“Some bus boys tell me that lil before he [the deceased] go and pick up this thing in the stall area he been talking to some strange man and the man give he a lil change,” the woman said. “I don’t really know what this dead chap name but he does be about the area and people does give he a lil change to do lil lil things for them.”
Meanwhile, another man said that he was talking to his friend in a shop just behind the stall when he heard the loud sound. He immediately rushed around to the front and saw black smoke coming from Hyman’s stall.
“From de time you hear this thing a set of people start scream and run about the place but I rush in front to see is wa happen and by de time this black smoke clear out I see this junkie lying down in front de man stall. He has a set a blood pon he and I know is dead he dead right deh,” the man said.
The explosion, the man said, caused empty glass bottles to shatter and pitch in all directions injuring people in the immediate vicinity.
Panic
The explosion occurred several yards away from the Guyana Fire Service, the ministries of Labour, Human Services and Social Security and Parliament Buildings and a short distance from the Brickdam Police Station. Investigators were quick to respond to the scene as they would have heard the explosion as well.
When Stabroek News arrived at the Stabroek Market area minutes after the incident, hundreds of citizens were there. While some tried to get a glimpse of the dead man others were scurrying to put distance between themselves and the area where the explosion occurred.
“Terror! Ow lawd is terror in Georgetown gyal,” one woman who was hastily moving away from the scene shouted. “You running de wrong side.”
At the Brickdam and Cornhill Street scene, policemen were out in their numbers and had just started to barricade the area. Traffic flow was also restricted in the immediate vicinity and the hire cars and buses cleared from the area.
However, despite repeated efforts by policemen on horse back to move civilians away from the crime scene they continued to flock the area in their numbers. Some even climbed on the sheds of nearby business places to get a closer look at what was happening.
Meanwhile, employees and other persons at nearby establishments, and the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court heard the explosion. Initially some dismissed it very loud thunder and it was not until the sirens of ambulance and police vehicles were heard that persons began to realize that something bigger was happening.
Between 10.45 am and 1.15 pm a number of police “specialists”, government and senior police officials arrived at the scene. Ben, the force’s sniffer dog, and his handler were also part of the investigating team.
Explosive device
Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee who was on the scene very early, said he could not give a detailed report on what transpired as yet. But he said that “preliminary indications” point to the device being on the scene and then later exploding.
“One hand of the individual, I can’t say if its the left hand or the right hand, has been blown off which indicates that he may have been in possession of what appears to be an explosive device,” Minister Rohee said.
He said while there are “many speculations” that the device was a grenade the police were unable to determine what was used at the time but it was “obviously something that has lethal power.” Rohee was very careful about linking the incident to anything other than a normal criminal activity, “an incident where a person has been killed as a result of an explosive device what the explosive device is we are yet to establish.
“Whether he was in possession of it that is also speculative, whether it was in the vicinity…. We all know, and we have been saying this time and time again this Stabroek Market area is a haven for all kinds of illegal activities everybody has been saying so. So much so that recently the police have been carrying out campaigns on Saturday nights… So I don’t think we need to speculate on this right now but there are things we have been talking about going on around Stabroek Market…”
Rohee said he would not link any other recent incidents – such as the two arson attempts at the Enterprise and Annandale schools – to the Stabroek Market incident.
The minister said police ranks at the Brickdam Police Station heard the explosion and they immediately rushed to the scene but by then members of the Guyana Fire Service, which is a stone’s throw away, were already on the scene.
Fire Chief Marlon Gentle said it was a loud explosion that alerted him that something was wrong and immediately after injured persons flocked to the fire station. He said it became chaotic but the firemen kept their heads and assisted in rushing the injured to the hospital. Gentle could not say what caused the explosion as he “is just a fire fighter and the police are now doing their investigations.”
Crime Chief Seelall Persaud said, in an invited comment, this afternoon that the Guyana Police Force has a specialist with the expertise to identify the type of explosive used. He added that a team from the Guyana Defence Force was also assisting police with investigations. The army team, according to Persaud, includes an explosive specialist as well. At this stage in the investigation, the Crime Chief further stated, it cannot yet be determined whether police will need to seek help from international sources.
Crime scene
The body of the dead man was removed more than two hours after the incident as the police crime scene investigators took several photographs from different angles of it and did a detail of the injuries sustained.
After the body was taken away by employees of the Lyken Funeral Home, investigators then went through the small beverage shop item by item. The shop was covered with tarpaulin and plastic and there was a hole in the roofing while part of it was also burnt. A cooler used to store drinks was also damaged and blackened with soot.
The investigators had the owner and a man, who appeared to be his helper, go through all of the articles in the shop. The entire shop was searched as a crowd of onlookers stood beyond the barricades. Old rickety benches and tables–apparently used by the shop’s customers–which were stacked under the tent were also removed by the investigators and several photographs were taken before they were loaded onto a truck to be removed by the police. A white piece of plywood, on which the dead man’s body was lying, was also removed and placed in the truck.
“He bin standing right there, right next to me and then I hear this loud explosion,” the owner was overheard telling a police officer.
Shortly before the body was removed a police investigator brought a white sniffer dog on the scene and the animal along with its handler walked around the crime scene. At intervals, the dog was placed back in its cage then taken out again, but from all indications nothing of evidential value was found.
And even as the officers conducted their investigation, Minister of Labour Manzoor Nadir, whose office is also a stone’s throw away from the scene, entered the barricaded area and greeted some of the officers with handshakes.
The police were assisted by members of the fire service–Gentle remained on the scene for hours–and at one time a fire man took a ladder to the scene but it was not utilized.
A woman who vends about three feet away from where the explosion occurred told reporters that she was not sure what happened but she just heard a loud explosion.
“I can’t say nothing all I hear is a loud explosion and right now me head just hurting,” the woman said as she held her head.
Blood was seen on the street, but it was not clear if it was from the injured persons or from the dead man.
At the hospital
At the hospital, Rajkumar, a minibus conductress said “I was going to buy newspaper from a newspaper vendor and I felt a sudden impact from behind her (the vendor). I felt a sudden sensation to the head and I saw blood by my left shoulder”. She is unclear about what caused the explosion but said people were running helter-skelter.
“I was standing up by Big Market two stands away and I just hear boom and then I feel a burning,” said David who sustained injuries to her leg and hip. She was in the Accident and Emergency Unit awaiting treatment when she spoke to Stabroek News.
Over in the x-ray department, several persons injured in the blast were waiting to be x-rayed. On a stretcher lay Harrilall wrapped in a plastic hospital gown and bloodied. Harrilall recalled that she was crossing the road at Stabroek Market square to catch a Route 42 minibus when “all I hear is pow”.
Harrilall was hit from behind and sustained injuries to her back and hands.
“I was going out. I don’t know what it is I just saw this woman in front of me fall down and I felt something dripping. When I put me hand behind my head I saw blood,” recalled Sutherland a retiree who was in the area when the blast went off.
The woman recalled that mere minutes before she heard the blast, she saw a constable walking away with goods seized from a street vendor.
On the same bench with Sutherland was Ali, who sustained injuries to his leg and back. The man said he had just left a Route 32 minibus and was making his way to the front of the market when the blast went off.
Hinds, who was sitting waiting for an x-ray before going into surgery said he hoped he would not lose the use of his right eye. Sitting in a wheelchair, his right eye bandaged and lower jaw swollen, Hinds said he was “crossing the road to catch a short to Grove” minibus to go to Herstelling when he heard the blast and felt a stinging in his face.
Dalton meanwhile, who sustained minor injuries, was on his way to the market when he was caught in the field of the blast. Dalton, in the corridor of the GPHC, said that after the “big explosion that was deafening” he went to investigate its cause.
Dalton said he learnt that “a fellow who sell snacks, he was going to light the stove and the gas bottle explode”.
Davidson, a newspaper vendor said that she was selling newspapers at the Stabroek Market when she suddenly felt an impact. She said she fell off her seat and subsequently felt a burning sensation in her left arm.
She noted that persons started to scream and someone stated that a gas bottle had exploded.
A shaken Mohanlall told Stabroek News that she was going about her business when the incident occurred. She said, “the gas hit me… I just come in town.. just come out a Timehri bus”. She said she was passing the ‘popcorn and sweet stand’ near the Route 32 minibus park when, “the thing explode and then me know I can’t walk”.
Mohanlall’s leg was covered in blood and she was picked up and rushed to the hospital.
Adams told Stabroek News that he was still stunned. “I don’t know exactly is what explode… to be honest I deh standing up pon the road”. Adams added, “..was an explosion, opposite Demico and I deh stand up there and deciding to go pon a move”. He said, “I now telling a man I going to the bank when me hand and shoulder and face get cut”.
Barrow recounted that he was at the minibus park waiting to catch a bus to go home when “I got hit on the shoulder”. He said he was unsure what was happening at the time.
Rajkumarie said she was going to purchase a newspaper from a nearby vendor when the incident occurred .She said, “I work as a conductress in a bus and I suddenly get hit in my temple”.
She said that that a piece of metal pierced her shoulder and her head and her right arm began to bleed. “I jus feel me head start to bleed and then my shoulder, I can’t move it and by my temple start to hurt”.
