Kitty man shot by group searching for friend

A mason was shot twice to his right leg on Monday evening after he was approached and attacked by a group of men, who were demanding the location of a “friend.”

The shooting occurred around 9.30pm in front of O’Neal Halley’s Lot 77 Queen Street, Kitty, Georgetown home, where he was liming with two of his friends. He was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he was treated and then discharged.

The police, in a statement on the shooting, said that earlier in the evening Halley and the suspected shooter had an argument in Albouystown over a previous misunderstanding. He was later confronted by the suspect, who shot him twice on his left leg and escaped.

However, Halley refuted the police statement and stated that he was attacked by a group of men who exited a white Toyota Tacoma vehicle.

Speaking to this newspaper yesterday, Halley, 21, explained that he was standing outside his premises around 9.30pm on Monday with two of his friends when a group of men, armed with guns and other objects in their hands, exited the vehicle and attacked him.

“They ask me where my friend deh and I tell them meh ain’t know, which truth was.

They turn and tell me I playing bad man and just shoot me,” he added.

According to Halley, based on what he understood, the men and the friend who they came looking for attended a party in Albouystown on Sunday evening, during which they had a misunderstanding over a female. Halley said he wasn’t present at the party.

After he was shot the men reportedly received information that the “friend” was living in Pike Street, Kitty. They proceeded there and ran into a house where Halley’s grandfather and cousins live. There, they allegedly assaulted his cousins, after they also denied knowing the whereabouts of the “friend.”

Halley’s mother yesterday related to this newspaper that while her son does not want to pursue the matter, she will ensure justice is served.

She related that one Monday morning while she was doing the laundry, two of the men approached her daughter and asked about the said friend.

“She tell them that she don’t know and they did want knock she tuh like and she just walk away,” the woman related.

The woman said she feels unprotected after what she witnessed on Monday evening. “I got two girl children too and just how they do it Monday night, they can run in here anytime and start shoot up just so,” she said.