There is a 7-year-old boy lucky to be alive tonight with a mother happy to have him safe.
This is after he was grazed when a bullet ripped though his home. The shot was from a Chinese grocer who was defending his business from two men hurling bottles at the store a after a misunderstanding about incorrect change. The reckless gunfire that followed in the area of Mayflowers Street known as 'Bailar' almost cost Earl Reneau Jr. his life this afternoon.
Keith Swift was on the scene and has the story.
Keith Swift reporting,
Earl Reneau Jr. is enjoying his ice cream but as happy as that makes him, this 7-year old is happier to be alive. Several hours earlier at midday he had a close call with death. Earl Jr. was sitting on this couch in the living room of his house when a bullet pierced the walls of the house. The powerful lead from the 9-millimeter bore through wall after wall flying past the 7 year old, just grazing his neck. This tiny scar is all that remains after Earl Jr.'s brush with death and his mother June Reneau is thankful.
June Reneau, Mother
"He has a little hole, a little gun hole on the side of the neck cause the bullet just went past the neck."
"My son is ok. The only thing is that he is scared and he doesn't want to come home but he is frightened."
Frightened but alive. And then the story gets interesting because the 9-millimeter bullet which ricocheted through the Reneau's house was fired by an armed Chinese grocer who was chasing a customer through the 'Bailar' area. He was one of three Chinese men standing outside with pistols and rifles. Angry witnesses say the he opened fire in the middle of the day and the middle of a neighborhood with children in plain view. And it was one of his bullets that almost killed Earl Jr.
Keith Swift,
"So your son was sitting in his living room watching TV when this bullet him?"
June Reneau,
"He was lying in the chair waiting for his father to come take him back to school. When the gun went off apparently his sister pulled him inside the kitchen and after the gunfire ceased he started crying that his neck was hurting and when she looked at it she saw blood coming from the neck. Then she screamed and then the neighbors came to help."
Keith Swift,
"You angry? Shock?"
June Reneau,
"Not Really. I was shocked but not angry."
Maybe this mother is just happy that Earl Jr. is alive and well and able to enjoy ice cream.
Police tonight have 5 Chinese and 2 Belizeans detained for the shooting. Police say the guns were drawn after an argument over change and then a chase ensued. Cops have confiscated the 9-millimeter gun and a 16-gauge shotgun in addition to recovering 2 expended shells.
Earl Reneau Jr. was treated briefly for his injuries at the KHMH, which have been classified as harm. He is an Infant 2 student at St. Martin Deporres Primary School.