Boy, 12, hit by stray bulletBy ONIKA JAMES Wednesday, January 2 2008
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Ford's worried mother Alma Samuel-Ford....
A 12-YEAR-OLD boy had his New Year’s eve celebration cut short, almost permanently, after he was hit by a stray bullet which still remains lodged in the right side of his chest.
Aaron Ford was ringing in the New Year by lighting fire crackers a short distance from his Faustin Trace, Maraval home on Old Year’s Night, when the incident occurred. With firecrackers going off noisily all around him, Ford could not say where the shot came from. Alma Samuel- Ford, the boy’s mother, described the ordeal as “very frightening”.
“Aaron was making his way back inside the house at about fifteen minutes past midnight when 1215 am when he said he was feeling a burning sensation in his back. When I looked, my boy’s entire back was covered in blood,” Samuel-Ford related.
The 35-year-old mother of three said she immediately telephoned the Maraval police who arrived in a matter of minutes. Ford was rushed to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital for emergency treatment.
At the Port-of-Spain General Hospital, where Ford remained warded, a shaken Samuel-Ford explained that the bullet entered Aaron’s back and was still lodged in the right side of his chest near his lungs.
“Doctors are yet to remove the bullet because of where it has lodged. They have inserted tubes because he was finding it difficult to breathe last night. I hope they will be doing surgery soon,” the worried mother said.
Aaron, a Standard Five student of the Maraval Roman Catholic Primary School is due to sit the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) later this year. His mother lamented that there were so many explosions on Old Year’s Night into New Year’s morning that it was hard to tell which were gunshots and which were fire crackers.
“Aaron is hooked up to tubes and he is in a lot of pain. I am not sure how they are going to take out that bullet,” Samuel-Ford said.
At the hospital several relatives and concerned neighbours filed in and out to see the youngster. Small children were made to wait in the corridor while friends expressed concern that “Aaron’s life could have been cut short by some irresponsible human being with a firearm.” Maraval police are continuing investigations. Police sources said they believe Ford was struck by a stray bullet by someone who either indiscriminately fired shots to greet the New Year or who was shooting at someone else.
