A deal with an undercover operative quickly turned deadly yesterday for a man looking to sell a hand grenade in the Bronx. Federal agents and an NYPD detective were monitoring a conversation being held in a car yesterday between the grenade seller and operative. It was not expected the seller would have the grenade on him at the time, so when he produced it, agents rushed the scene in the interest of public safety. The undercover operative left the car and, when the suspect attempted to drive off, a federal agent shot him fatally once in the head.
According to the New York Post, the man told the undercover operative, who was wearing a wire, that he would detonate the grenade if he determined he was being set up. ""You better not be f------ with me or I'll pull the pin." That's when the supposed customer left the car and agents approached. The fleeing suspect dragged a federal agent about 20 feet down the street before he was killed. Authorities haven't released the identity of the suspect, but the grenade deal was apparently unrelated to terrorism.
A bomb squad robot recovered the hand grenade from the car and it was determined it was not a military-style grenade and was actually inert. No law enforcement agents were seriously injured during the incident, although two were transported to a nearby hospital. Residents of the Mott Haven section of the Bronx were confined to their homes for several hours and, since the incident occurred around 6PM, commuters were re-routed on their way home from work.
In late October, a few makeshift hand grenades were lobbed at the Mexican consulate on 39th St. near Madison Ave. in Manhattan.
