Senior Reporter
A 15-year-old boy who was in a car with his relatives on their way to church yesterday morning, was shot by a stray bullet in South Oropouche.
Police said the teenager, his aunt, uncle and 24-year-old cousin, had just left home and were exiting Agricultural Road to turn onto the main road at Dow Village when they encountered a fracas between a group of Venezuelans, and 49-year-old resident Kern La Foucade.
During the melee, the Venezuelans reportedly chopped La Foucade in his face and shot three times Another resident, 37-year-old Keil La Rode, who was on his way to work, was shot in his left foot.
Police said the fight started around 8.30 am at the nearby Sweet Bay bar. La Foucade ran towards his home as the incident escalated but was chased by the Venezuelans and shot near a parlour.
The teenager, a Form Four student, La Foucade and La Rode are all now warded at the San Fernando General Hospital.
Police later arrested five of the Venezuelans and seized a pistol.
In a telephone interview yesterday, the teenager’s aunt said they are Jehovah’s Witnesses and were on the way to service at a church in La Brea. However, she said as they approached the area near the bar, they encountered a group of men involved in an altercation at the top of the street. She said she heard gunshots and something struck the car. She said her nephew then complained that he got shot and they took him to the hospital.
The bullet pierced his left leg, just above his knee.
The aunt said, “I don’t know what they (Government) are doing in terms of dealing with this situation, but it is just a sad situation, that you’re just going about minding your own business, going to church and something like this could happen. It’s just sad that people can walk the streets freely with guns and you are the person that pick up a bullet.
“If my husband had actually turned that car to the left I would have been in the direction of the bullet. That bullet would have come in and hit me in my stomach.”
She said depending on the results of the CT scan, the doctors will decide whether to remove the bullet.
However, she said her nephew was doing well.
“We are just glad that it wasn’t worse and that he is in a condition where he is up and talking, and we’re at the hospital with him right now and it’s just a sad situation to me. It is not traumatising, and he isn’t traumatised because he’s up and talking.”
When Guardian Media visited the scene, two spent shells were still on the ground.
At La Foucade’s home, a man said family members were at the hospital with him and he could not comment on the incident.
Oropouche police are investigating.
