Girl, 2, shot in chest

Two-year-old Aveda McCarthy is fighting for life at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, after she was shot in the chest when two gunmen opened fire on a car driven by her mother  Onika McCarthy, near the Central Market in Port-of-Spain around 7.45 am yesterday. Aveda’s father, Ricardo McCarthy, 46, who was in the car, was injured on his hands and feet. Doctors at the EWMSC reported that it was a miracle  Aveda did not die in the brazen morning shooting on the busy Beetham Highway. The child was rushed to Port-of-Spain General Hospital by her mother and then transferred to the EWMSC. Little Aveda, who celebrated her second birthday on Sunday, was hooked up to several machines at the Intensive Care Unit yesterday after doctors removed the bullet from her chest.

Several tests and scans were carried out to determine the extent of her injuries. Doctors said yesterday if all went well, Aveda would be removed from the ICU today. As tears streamed down her face, Onika told Newsday she was thanking God her child was not killed in the shooting. She said around 7.45 am, she was driving her car with her husband seated in the front passenger seat and Aveda in the back seat playing and singing. According to Onika, who is a checker with the Unemployment Relief Programme, she was on her way to collect her pay cheque in Port-of-Spain. Onika said as they were nearing the Central Market, she slowed down because of a hump in the road. She then came face-to-face with two gunmen who began firing at the car.

She said when her husband was shot she tried to grab Aveda, but the gunmen kept firing. When the shooting stopped, she heard her daughter cry out and on checking, saw a red spot on Aveda’s chest. “All I thought about at the time was getting my daughter to the hospital and I began praying non-stop for her survival,” said Onika. She said her husband Ricardo also began praying although he was shot. Aveda’s grandmother Elizabeth Fraser, who lives in Point Fortin, hurried to Port-of-Spain on hearing the news and said she is grieved, angry, and fed up with the crime situation in the country.

She said the perpetrators  had no respect for the lives of innocent people and her granddaughter could have been killed in such a senseless attack. She added that the authorities seemed impotent in dealing with the runaway crime situation, and called on the bandits to surrender their guns. She called on the police to find the men who shot her granddaughter and bring them to justice. Besson Street Police told Newsday they are working on several leads in the shootings and have already established a motive. Two suspects are expected to be arrested shortly. Ricardo yesterday discharged himself from hospital and gave a statement to Sgt Franklyn of the Besson Street Police.