Another youth hit by stray bullet

Another youth has been hit by a stray bullet, less than 24 hours after six-year-old Hakeem Rodney was hit by a bullet while playing in an alley outside his home at George Street, Port-of-Spain, on Tuesday. According to reports, Isaiah Phillip, 14, a Form Two student of the Russell Latapy Secondary School, was painting a plant pot outside his Building Five apartment home at Plaisance Terrace, John John, Laventille, at 9.15 am, when four masked men began shooting at another man. Phillip grabbed his brother, Hasani Baker, 5, and dragged him upstairs to their apartment. The boys’ mother became concerned when she saw Phillip clutching his left side and, on examining him, she realised he had been shot. Isaiah was rushed to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital where he is awaiting surgery.

When Newsday visited the family’s home, the boy’s frightened mother Rhonda Nicholas said her Christmas is over. “Right now all I want is for the doctors to operate, remove the bullet and allow my son to come home. After that, my intentions are to move from here. “I have everything packed already. It is now to approach the TT Housing Development Corporation and seek a transfer. My Christmas is over. I cannot study anything while my child is in hospital and my children’s lives are in danger.” “Isaiah was so looking forward for Christmas. Now he can only see it from a bed.” Doctors said the location of the bullet would make it difficult to operate, but are hoping the bullet shifts before they operate. PC Charles of the Besson Street Police Station is investigating.

In an unrelated matter, Tuesday’s stray bullet victim, Hakeem Rodney-Caliste, is reported to be recovering after the bullet’s removal. According to a family member, the doctors had initially been afraid to remove the bullet because of its location and severe bleeding. However, it was eventually removed. The second-year student was shot around 1.30 pm near his home when hitman/bandit Oba Davis was shot dead. The bullet, half of which entered Rodney-Caliste’s jaw, is believed to have passed through Davis’ body before it hit Rodney. The injured youth is in a stable condition. Kareem’s mother Joanne Rodney said she is leaving everything in the hands of God. His father, Dillon Caliste, is just praying that the pain stops and his son is allowed to go home.