Three children tragically died after a grenade exploded as they played in their communal front garden.
The blast claimed the lives of Beila Giselle Balsa Sosa, her brother Dylan Jhosue Bello Sosa, and their friend Edgar Mateo Tovar.
Giselle was three-years-old, while Dylan and Edgar were both six.
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The siblings’ mother, Gibelly Sosa, was inside while the children were making kites.
She told how she heard a sound resembling a bottle opening, followed by an explosion.
She and her husband ran outside and found the children lying injured on the ground, along with scattered fragments of the device.
One of the children was missing a hand and a leg.
Neighbours helped take them to a local hospital in Zaraza – south-east of Caracas, Venezuela.
Two arrived with no vital signs, while the third died during surgery.
Their cause of death was given as “hypovolemic shock caused by intracranial haemorrhage due to severe traumatic brain injury with multiple open wounds”.
Detectives who visited the scene suspect the grenade was tied to a string and hidden in a gap beneath a paving slab.
The police say the street had been the base of operations for the alleged criminal gang leader Yohany Machuca.
Machuca – whose gang, “La Banda del Pepón”, was involved in extortion – was killed during a military and police operation in August 2024.
The siblings and their parents had only been living in the house for two months.
The property owner has been taken into custody and is being questioned.
The children were laid to rest in Zaraza yesterday (10 Mar), as reported by Need To Know.
Local mayor Carlos Castillo told local media: “It’s a heartbreaking tragedy that deeply moves us. We feel as if those three children were our own.
“Everyone in Zaraza is devastated.”
The investigation continues into the deaths on Saturday (8 Mar) afternoon.
