Sophia miner on life support after Christmas Eve shooting

Wayne Porter planned to spend Christmas with his family, but instead ended up in hospital on life support after he was shot during a robbery in Sophia.

Porter, 26, of ‘B’ Field Sophia, is currently a patient in the High Dependency Unit (HDU) of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), after he underwent surgery to repair internal damage caused by the gunshot to his abdomen at close range.

The robbery and shooting took place on Christmas Eve, just says after Porter travelled to Georgetown.

Stanley Porter said his son is a miner in the interior and he had travelled to the city with a friend last week Wednesday in order to spend the Christmas season with his family and his girlfriend, who also travelled to Georgetown to spend the holiday with him.

He said that on the day of the shooting, he received a call from his daughter, who alerted him that her brother had been shot by bandits in Sophia.

“When I saw my son on the hospital bed with the bandages and an oxygen mask groaning in pain, it frighten me as a father,” the senior Porter said.

He learned from his son’s friend, who was with him at the time of robbery, that they were in front of a shop in ‘C’ Field, Sophia, when two men, including one armed with a gun, approached them.

He was told that the men informed that they knew they were from the interior and then demanded gold and cash. His son was reportedly placed in a vice by one of the bandits and a scuffle ensued between them.

Seeing the men approaching, his son had taken off his gold chain and placed it in his pocket, but it was subsequently spotted and one of the bandits snatched it. As a result, his son told the bandits, “Y’all does just go round de place with a set of toy guns just robbing people.”

It was after that statement that bandit armed with the gun shot Porter in the abdomen. He was later taken by a minibus to the hospital, where the police took a statement from him.
Stanley Porter said his son is slowly recovering.