GUATEMALA-ATTACK Gangland grenade attack outside Guatemala hospital kills 1, hurts 22

Record ID: 355239

  • Title: GUATEMALA-ATTACK Gangland grenade attack outside Guatemala hospital kills 1, hurts 22
  • Date: 10th March 2015
  • Summary: GUATEMALA CITY, GUATEMALA (MARCH 10, 2015) (REUTERS) POLICE CAR BEHIND CORDONED OFF ROAD INVESTIGATOR TAKING NOTES VARIOUS OF CORDONED OFF STREET / INVESTIGATORS WORKING (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) EYEWITNESS, CARMELINA CARDONA, SAYING: "I thought they were fireworks, not machine guns firing away. I didn't think it was that until I saw everyone running. I wanted to go inside her
  • Embargoed: 25th March 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Guatemala
  • Country: Guatemala
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA4LE4BHLJ1L7TKTIOVF48YWZZY
  • Story Text: At least one woman was killed and 22 people were injured on Tuesday (March 10) after a drive-by grenade attack outside Guatemala's second-largest hospital aimed at a jailed gang leader who was having a check-up, the country's interior minister said.
    Marlon Ochoa, the brother of the founder of Guatemala's "Calle 18" gang, had been taken from prison for a check-up at the San Juan de Dios hospital in Guatemala City when the morning attack took place. Ochoa was already inside the building and was unscathed, according to reports.
    Eyewitness Carmelina Cardona ran for cover when she heard the grenade go off.
    "I thought they were fireworks, not machine guns firing away. I didn't think it was that until I saw everyone running. I wanted to go inside here but a woman had closed the door, so I went over there. I said, 'Get on the floor, because I don't know what problem there is here," she said.
    Officials report the grenade was lobbed at the prison services vehicle Ochoa had travelled in and assailants on a motor bike and in a car opened fire. The car was later found abandoned with guns in it.
    Many of those injured were innocent bystanders on the street.
    "There was an armed attack outside the hospital in the area of external examination rooms along the main avenue, where people were injured on the street and whom we then had to attend to internally at the hospital. A total of 22 injured people were admitted suffering from gun wounds and grenade fragmentation shards," said executive director at San Juan de Dios Hospital, Julio Figueroa.
    Authorities believe this may be an attack from the notorious Mara Salvatrucha.
    Gangs have long run riot throughout Central America, one of the world's most violent regions.
    First formed in the 1980s in the United States by Central American immigrants, the "Calle 18" and "Mara Salvatrucha" gangs, or "maras," later blossomed into international franchises as members were deported back to their home countries.
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