Nurse tells of blood and explosions

NURSE Denesia Gonsalves was forced to hide in the toilet before attending to wounded security guard William Ramnarine in the cafeteria of the International School at Westmoorings on November 20, 2002.

Gonsalves also stated that she became very concerned for Ramnarine because the ambulance took too long to reach the scene of the shootings. Gonsalves said on the day in question, she was in the clinic at the school when she heard a loud sound. She then heard three more sounds in quick succession. “I locked the door to the clinic. I went into the toilet area and locked the door. I remained there for about five minutes. I came out of the toilet and unlocked the door to the clinic. I looked around and did not see anything. I felt it was safe so I went and took my emergency first aid kit to the cafeteria.”

On her arrival there, Gonsalves saw Ramnarine lying on his back on the ground. “There was a lot of blood coming from his mouth. There was another man standing next to him. I rendered aid to William Ramnarine. He had two injuries, to his cheek and groin. I then heard a knocking on the door. When I opened it I saw it was a student, Mishaeil Sukhbir.”
Gonsalves said when she saw the boy, he appeared to be a little scared. The boy had a note on him. Gonsalves said she read part of the note following which the boy put it back in his pocket. She then heard about five more explosions. She became very concerned about Ramnarine because of the delay by the ambulance to reach the school.
Gonsalves said she accompanied Ramnarine to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital. Another witness — Alicia Solozano — said she became very scared when she saw Mishaeil Sukbir in the upstairs room of the school with gunman Phillip Seerattan. “I then saw a young man leaning against the teacher’s desk. That could have been five feet away. I saw something looking like a gun in his right hand. He was just holding the gun down at his side. I did not attempt to open the door. I made eye contact with Mishaeil who kept waving me away from the door.” Solozano said she left and went back to the teachers’ room. She then went to her office and used the telephone. She spoke to the police some time later and eventually left the school premises at 8 pm.