A 15-year-old boy in Trinidad and Tobago with a slight mental disability from Tunapuna was gunned down during the blackout on Wednesday night.
The teenager was identified as Antonio Badenoch.
Badenoch’s mother, Marcia Ramsawak believes that her son was mistaken for someone else.
Police said they were told that Badenoch was standing along a track near his home on St Vincent Street, Tunapuna when a white car drove alongside him and an occupant of the vehicle shot him.
Relatives heard the gunshots and on checking saw Badenoch on the ground.
He was shot several times about the body and died on the scene.
Investigating officers recovered and seized 23 spent shells on the scene.
Since the incident, Ramsewak said her children are very traumatized and do not want to stay in the area anymore.
She said her eight-year-old son left that same night to go by relatives and her 20-year-old daughter was being treated at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex for panic attacks as she was having problems in breathing and talking.
Speaking with the members of the media at her home on Thursday, Ramsewak said her son went to the track earlier in search of wifi and believed he had gone back to the area when he was killed.
“What happen he does go and take he little wifi in the track, now remember yesterday (Wednesday) had a little power outage so what happen now the neighbour across the road put on a generator so when he saw the lights he say mammy I going and take the little wifi I say alright but he did come back inside and he come and lie down on the bed with me,” Ramsawak said.
“For some reason he was restless. I don’t know why he was back and forth, back and forth. He was on his phone I don’t know what was going on in his phone but he make a remark saying that he was stressed out right now. He was real irritable. I knock out because he was on the bed and he get up and went back outside but I didn’t know he went back on the track so I just get up and I hear bap bap bap bap and I jump up and everybody ran inside and they gone down on the ground. Next thing I bawl where Antonio, where Antonio? Nobody know where Antonio is. When the shots done the step father here walk outside, the brother walk outside. He come back and he tell me Marcia don’t go outside ah say where Antonio he say don’t go outside he ain’t want me to see my son lie down in the track dead. They empty a machine gun on my child last night,” she added as she became overwhelmed with tears.
Ramsawak said her teen boy suffered from ADHD. ADHD is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders of childhood and is usually first diagnosed in childhood and often lasts into adulthood. Children with ADHD may have trouble paying attention, controlling impulsive behaviours (may act without thinking about what the result will be), or be overly active.
She added that in addition to that her son had a slight mental disability, “My child don’t be on no crime. He don’t hold guns. He not in no gang. He don’t spoke weed. Nothing. He miserable and everyone around here can tell you he miserable but he very loving and he didn’t deserve that he get last night.”
“Around here is a little crime area and apparently they take him for somebody else. The gunman past down and they reverse must be tell themselves one of them fellas in the track dey and they run up on him because he tried to run back inside but they run up on him and they finish him,” Ramsawak added.
She admitted that for some time her seven children never wanted to stay in the area because of its crime, “For the longest while they don’t want to stay here but what could I do? Rent now is $3,000, $4,000 change last night when that happen they were traumatized. Not one of my children wanted to stay home here.”
Ramsawak said her son wanted to go back to school or learn a trade and recalled that all during the pandemic he often shared things with her suggesting that he longed to go back to school.
(Trinidad Guardian)
