Schoolboy shot in face in Beetham attack

A 12-year-old schoolboy was shot in the face when a gunman fired randomly at his mother’s car as she drove past on the Beetham Highway on Thursday night. According to police reports, around 10.30 pm, Sherry Qui, of Seventh Avenue, Barataria, was driving her Toyota Corolla along the eastbound lane when near the Vehicle Maintenance Company (Vmcott), she saw a man with a gun in his hand.

Qui told police the man pointed the gun at her car and fired two shots. Qui’s son Gordon Lee, who was in the front passenger seat, was hit in the face and the other bullet narrowly missed the mother and son. Qui drove to the Barataria Police Station, where she reported the incident. Police took Lee to the Wendy Fitzwilliam Paediatric Hospital at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope. He remained warded in a stable condition up to late yesterday.

Investigators said that Lee, a Standard Five student of the Don Miguel Hindu Primary School, was lucky to be alive, as the bullet only pierced his left cheek and exited through the other side. After the report was made investigators returned to the area but were unable to find the gunman. Police said they were puzzled over the random attack and are yet to establish a motive. Investigations are continuing.