Stray-bullet survivor getting wheelchair ramp

NATHAN Pierre, survivor of an accidental shooting, will soon find it less difficult to get in and out of his Laventille home, thanks to a wheelchair ramp.

Pierre, 32, was left paralysed after being hit by a stray bullet in December 2023.

Until recently his girlfriend Sherice Lawrence had to borrow a wheelchair and ask neighbours to carry him on a stretcher if he needed to be moved from the house to an ambulance or taxi.

In a phone interview with Newsday on April 17, she said, “He got the wheelchair and other food supplies.

"They came today too to start building the ramp.”

Lawrence added a social worker from the Ministry of Social Development and Family Services had visited on April 12.

Adanna Griffith-Gordon, councillor for Success/Trou Macaque, said on April 11 she had been communicating with Pierre to assist.

Griffith-Gordon said she and the San Juan/Laventille Regional Corporation were gathering materials to build a walkway and wheelchair ramp for Pierre, as he lives on a narrow dirt road leading to a steep, rutted yard.

After Newsday documented Pierre’s plight on April 7, he was given a total of six wheelchairs. Lawrence said they gave away the extra ones.

Speaking with Newsday on Wednesday, Griffith-Gordon said, “Our efforts were at the doorstep long before media got involved.

"Before becoming a councillor, I lived a stone’s throw away from Pierre. Once I became a councillor, I, along with the rest of the community, wanted to step up to help.”

The December shooting left two people dead and two others injured.

Pierre had gone to the Courts Megastore in El Socorro to buy a bed for his new home.

Anyone wishing to help Pierre further can contact Lawrence at 474-9173.