Shooting victim brain dead

BY THE time anyone reads this story, Steven Alexander Gonzales, 27, may be dead.

Gonzales’ father also named Steven, said doctors conducted tests yesterday on his son to see if he would be able to breathe on his own. But the tests came up negative. Another test was expected at 8 pm yesterday, and if that test is also negative, the family will have to pull the plug on Gonzales’ life support machines which are the only things keeping him alive. Gonzales who had dreams of becoming a policeman, was shot through the head by a stray bullet on Wednesday as he was in a car in Cocorite accompanied by driving instructor Naresh Harrilal. The 50-year-old man was struck in the eye by the bullet as it exited from Gonzales’ head.

“My son is on the brink of dying,” said Gonzales yesterday. “Last (Wednesday) night I hardly got any sleep. We are at the hospital right now and family are taking turns, spending as much time with him as they possibly can. My wife and his sisters are at his side right now, hoping he would respond sometime, somehow...but so far he is not responding. Doctors say he is brain dead.”

Gonzales’ father told Newsday his son was aspiring to become a police officer and even dreamed of becoming the next Commissioner of Police. On Wednesday, he was trying to get his driver’s license which would have improved his chances of being accepted into the police academy. “He already aced the written test, he passed that with flying colours. He passed the physical, because he is a very healthy, strong young man. They were about to enlist him in the academy for him to start in the Barracks next week,” Gonzales said.

The father was told by police that when his name came up in the news, they recognised it as one of the names of potential police trainees which they had accepted into the academy.

Gonzales was driving along the Western Main Road on Wednesday at about 9 am along with driving instructor, Harrilal, when gunshots rang out. A bullet flew through the window of the car, went through Gonzales’ head and lodged in Harrilal’s eye. Both men were taken to the Port of Spain General Hospital where they remain warded. Harrilal is in a critical condition.

The bullet lodged in Harrilal’s eye is dangerously close to the frontal lobe of his brain. Doctors are saying performing surgery to remove the bullet may further endanger his life and Harrilal may have to flown overseas for specialised surgery. No arrest has been made. Police said that initial investigations showed that both men were innocent victims as the gunshots were not means for them and they were struck by a stray bullet.