Employees and shoppers at Cooperativa Dethan, a fish and seafood retail shop in Cieneguita, in the Caribbean province of Limon, lived a very scary moment on Friday, September 22^nd. A routine retail transaction was suddenly interrupted when a hand grenade landed on the floor of the shop and rolled to a stop, sending shoppers and employees screaming and running to find cover.

Just like in the Hong Kong action films directed by John Woo, time slowed down for those in Cooperativa Dethan as they escaped the retail establishment looking for a place to hide from the blast, which thankfully never came. After several minutes that seemed like ages, people emerged from their hiding spots and immediately called the police.

Members of Fuerza Publica, Costa Rica’s national police force, quickly arrived in the Cieneguita neighborhood, evacuated everyone and cordoned off the area. They notified the Organization for Judicial Investigations (OIJ in Spanish), who got in touch with explosive, ordnance and demolition (EOD) specialists of the Special Intervention Unit.

EOD personnel identified the munition as an M67-type fragmentation hand grenade. The M67 is typically used by the United States military and the Canadian Forces, but it is also copied around the world. The EOD technicians determined that the grenade had been relieved of its safety clip and pin, however, when the spoon detached the spring mechanism broke and failed to ignite the fuse. In other words, the grenade was not originally an inert piece of ordnance, but it fortunately malfunctioned in the end.

According to a story by Ariana Cabezas Mejia of Diario Extra, a popular tabloid daily in Costa Rica, people in the fish shop were terrorized and confused by the grenade attack. Fragmentation grenades are not part of the arsenal of Fuerza Publica, and Costa Rica abolished her army in 1948. The OIJ is investigating the incident to find out how the grenade was obtained, who tossed it and why.