KEVON FELMINE
kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt
“Oh gosh, allyuh, ah get shot. Ah go dead,” ten-year-old Dimitri Lacksingh cried out as he bled from his head after a friend accidentally shot him with an air rifle on Thursday.
Terrified relatives rushed to attend to the Standard Four pupil of the Rousillac Hindu Primary School on Thursday, fearing that he would be the second child killed by a gun in less than two weeks. Nine-year-old Jamal Modeste died while playing on Africa Grounds on October 16. He suffered a gunshot wound during a shooting at a nearby basketball court.
However, Dimitri's relatives said a friend unintentionally shot him after they found the rifle at home.
Dimitri's uncle, Damian Singh, said he was doing well at a hospital after doctors removed pellet fragments. However, there is still a piece lodged near a blood vessel. He said the injury was not life-threatening.
“He is up and about, walking and talking. He is moving. All his limbs, mobility, speech and everything are good,” Singh said.
Relatives called Singh on Thursday afternoon, informing him that there was an incident and that he should return home immediately. Unable to respond instantly, he asked what occurred. He learned that Dimitri got shot in the head.
“When I heard he got shot, that hit me hard. I did not really inquire about how it happened or anything. I was just inquiring about how he is feeling. They told me of excessive bleeding, he was vomiting non-stop, and I realised he got shot in his head and at close range.”
The pipe in the yard where Dimitri Lacksingh went to wash off the blood after being shot at his home in Mon Desir Road, South Oropouche, on Thursday.
RISHI RAGOONATH
Singh said the shooting occurred at their home in South Oropouche and that the rifle belonged to a relative. Based on initial investigations, he said that Dimitri and one of his schoolmates had just returned from school and found the rifle.
“When they took up the gun, apparently, they did not know it was loaded.”
Singh could not explain his feeling towards his nephew’s near end. Dimitri's mom passed away a few years ago at age 31 from cancer, and he has been helping to raise the boy and his sister ever since.
“All I am hoping for is the best. The night I went up there (the hospital), they performed emergency surgery because he had excessive internal bleeding. They removed some fragments of the bullet.”
Dimitri's cousin, Naim Rambally, 29, was the one who responded to the incident. Rambally said he was selling in his shop around 3:10 pm when a relative ran inside and told him Dimitri got shot.
“I got weak. I did not know what to do. I asked him: who boy? He was so frightened, he did not know what to say.” The relative then replied: “Dimitri! Dimitri!. Look one of them now playing and shoot Dimitri in his head.”
Rambally said without locking the shop, he ran up the hill to Dimitri’s home and saw him on the ground, bleeding. Seeing the child covering a wound over his right ear, Rambally ripped his T-Shirt and wrapped it around his head. He then took a towel and wiped the blood. After taking him to a chair, Dimitri told him that he and his friend were playing inside. He told his friend that he could not “crack that gun”. He turned around and heard cracks! He then saw blood and told his friend, “You shoot me, boy.”
Rambally said no parents were around, so his girlfriend called an ambulance, but it took too long to arrive. Police came, and the officers took Dimitri and his father to the San Fernando General Hospital.
Naim said the incident cramped everyone’s style, saying that he usually sold fireworks for Divali but could not after what happened to his cousin.
However, he said the shooting was unintentional.
“Two of them is real friend.”