It's as savage and senseless an attack as they come a 14 year old boy was shot while he was shooting hoops with some of his friends. Sometime around 7:30 last night 14 year old, Ryan Alvarez was at the St. John's Anglican Basketball court playing basketball when he was approached by an older man who pulled a gun and simply shot him in the stomach. This morning we spoke to his mother who says the crime against her son was uncalled for.
Alfonso NobleReporting,
The only thing keeping 14 year old Ryan Alvarez alive is a ventilator that periodically expands and contracts his chest. Alvarez along with his brother and a cousin were yesterday playing basketball at the St. John's basketball court in Queen’s Square when he was approached by a young man, reportedly from the George Street area.
Maria Alvarez, Shooting Victim’s Mother
“My son was playing basketball over at island (Bird’s Isle) and it looked like they loss the game. They came in last night and went to the basketball court by St. John’s and they were practicing and the guy came up to him and asked him if he is ready to die.”
“He ran into the children them and started to cuff them in their heads and that one ran. My son wouldn’t have been shot but my sister’s son would have been shot but my son didn’t run and so he approached my son. He grabbed my son by his shirt and then he put the gun under my son’s shirt and told him ‘boy you wah dead?’ After he shot my son, my son told him why doesn’t he stop taking advantage of us and then my son dropped right there.”
According to Dr. Fernando Cuellar the bullet ripped through Alvarez's insides causing major damage to the his internal organs, which now has the 14 year old fighting to stay alive.
Dr. Fernando Cuellar,
“He underwent about 4 to 5 hours of surgery with major injuries to the internal organs; liver, gall bladder, gut, and major vessels. Miraculously he still survived and is still critical and his vital signs have stabilized quite well so we are a bit optimistic of his recovery. It’s still too early to say for sure but definitely he will require more surgeries tomorrow.”
“It definitely looks like a big caliber weapon because the injuries to his liver as was described by the surgeon did show quite substantial damage to the liver.”
Alfonso Noble,
How many bullet wounds did he receive?
Dr. Fernando Cuellar,
“We only saw one but that one was quite enough to cause all the havoc inside the belly and the chest.”
And while Alvarez is scheduled for another surgery tomorrow there is now need for him to receive blood? 4 pints worth and the mother and the attending doctor ask anyone who can to donate blood
Maria Alvarez,
“And right now my son need four pints of blood and I don’t know if the parents are willing to make their sons come and give blood to my son.”
Dr. Fernando Cuellar,
“We always encourage people to donate blood voluntarily so that for cases like this we always have a readily available stock of blood. But it’s quite sad for us to have received a child with these type of injuries.”
But more than just being sad circumstances, for Maria Alvarez, Ryan's mother, the incident could have been foretold because she says, the children are systematically harassed by the shooter.
Maria Alvarez,
“Anytime they see the kids they always bully the children from Supal Street. They just bully the kids but I know who shot him and I want justice.”
“I want the police just try see if they could find him and get justice from it.”
Our information suggests that while the shooting seems unprovoked we understand that the shooter has a grudge to settle with Maria Alvarez's common law husband who is a police officer. We understand that the alleged shooter threatened the 14 year old a number of times, because the teenager's father was harassing him.
As for his condition, he is still expected to be operated on tomorrow. And while Alfonso Noble today provided a pint of blood, he is still in need of 8 more. Anyone wishing to help can present themselves at the Blood Bank to donate on his behalf.