FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD schoolboy Ryan Williams  of Vive-La-Force, West Bank Demerara, who was fatally  shot in his back by one of several bullets indiscriminately discharged on Monday, had just exited his parents’ home for fear of being hit by one of the bullets after a near-death  experience a fortnight ago.  But ironically, he moved into a more clear and present danger.

When the shooting started around 13:45 hrs, the bereaved relatives said, everyone in Persaud’s household became seized with fear since just two weeks ago when similar gunfire was heard, one of the bullets penetrated their kitchen wall and entered the house.  It was loud and terrifying but thank God on that occasion no one was hurt. According to the relatives,  it is felt that the gunshots were coming from the direction of Friendship, East Bank Demerara.
Recounting the incident, Ryan’s elder cousin, Feroze Ali said that on Monday, immediately as the gunfire started again, fear gripped the household, and Ryan, still badly traumatised from the previous experience decided that he was not going to take chances. “And so he come out the house and decide to stay out on the road in front of  his parents’ house, saying that he ain’t wan’ no bullet hit he,” Feroze recalled.
Ironically, in moving from what he perceived to be a danger zone, he unknowingly walked straight into the path of the bullet that claimed his life.  And now, some are asking, “Did the bullet that struck him have Ryan’s name written on it?”
His parents are too deeply grieved to even attempt to fathom this, but all they are asking is that the police authorities leave no stone unturned in seeking to bring the perpetrators of this heinous act to justice. Weeping as she sat in her hammock with the youngest of her three surviving sons, Matthew in her lap, Deborah Persaud said, “I only pray that the police do their work and find and deal with the person who discharged that bullet that killed my son.”
Relatives recalled that the gunfire started around 13:45 hrs and immediately  villagers started calling up the police, informing them of what was taking place.
One man who claimed that his 14-year-old son had narrowly escaped being hit in the gunfire a fortnight ago, said that he personally called the police about five times, asking them to visit the scheme and investigate what was going on.
He said when he called the fourth time and did not get a positive response, his words to the police before hanging up the phone were:  “So you all not coming, yuh gon wait till somebody get shoot before you come.” The neighbour said it was around 15:30 hrs  when, after hanging up the phone, he heard the commotion outside and ran over, only to learn that Ryan was shot. The man said he immediately called the police and told them “Well the boy just get shoot and dead, all you gon come now?”
On hearing this story being repeated, the relatives burst into tears once more and were inconsolable.
Meanwhile, Feroze recalled that he and a younger lad had been across the road from Persaud’s home, catching shrimps and looked up and saw Ryan approaching. When he got to them he explained why he had left the house. He stood at the roadside watching them and suddenly blurted out, “Something hit meh in meh back, come se is what.”  Ryan impulsively clutched his upper rib cage and blood began spurting out of his back, and from his ears and nose, the other lads said.  Neighbours figured that the bullet must have penetrated and damaged his lung.
All six family members, including their four-year-old son, Matthew, were at home when the incident occurred and hysteria soon broke out.
Relatives and other villagers related that the shooting had been going on for several months now and confirmed that the bullets were coming from the direction of Friendship, East Bank Demerara – about two lots away from the sluice. “Every now and then this thing happening, and we never manage to get the police to get to the bottom of it, despite we making report. So, till now we don’t know who doing the shooting and what it is all about, but it is sad that a young man now lost his life,”  one man said.
The incident happened on the first day of the re-opening of school following the August holidays. Ryan who attended La Retraite Secondary School and had been promoted to the third form did not attend school on the opening day, but had planned to do so yesterday.
Ryan Persaud is survived by his parents  Heeralall Persaud, also called ‘Vishnu’, and Deborah,  brothers Randy, Andy and Matthew who turned five yesterday.
A post-mortem examination is to be performed on Persaud’s body today.
Meanwhile, the village of Vive-La-Force  continues to live in fear for their lives as this newspaper tried in vain yesterday to get updates from the police.