POLICE are yet to apprehend the man who shot the teen waitress last May at a Chinese restaurant in Better Hope, East Coast Demerara (ECD), and she is presently in protective custody.Sixteen-year-old Onika Luke, of Lot 1 Vryheid’s Lust, ECD, almost lost her life on May 27, last when a man walked up to her while she was working part-time at the restaurant and demanded cash.

Before she could have handed over the day’s sales, the lone bandit opened fire, hitting her to the throat and her thumb. Almost three months later, her shooter is still on the run while Luke is struggling to get her life back together.

Police said that after she was discharged from the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), she was taken into protective custody where she is only allowed to be visited by her mother. This move is to keep her safe from the man who tried to kill her.

Her mother, Joycelyn Luke, explained that the bullet is still lodged somewhere in her daughter’s body and cannot be removed due to the position it is in. She further explained that when her daughter was discharged from the hospital, she was placed in a home by social workers, who feared that the gunman might look for her and finish off what he started since she can identify him.