Tonight, the loved ones of 11 year-old Kyron Green, are waiting on the results of an MRI which was done to determine the extent of the damage from a stray bullet that hit him on last Friday night.
Kyron went to the One Plus One Supermarket on Central American Boulevard at around 7:00 that night. He went there to buy French fries and ketchup for his mother, Marsha Belisle, who is a food vender right down the street from the store. While Kyron was inside, a gunman went after his target, 21 year-old Raymond Fuller, who was standing at the entrance of the store. The shooter fired several shots at Fuller. Unfortunately, Kyron was in the line of fire, even though he was inside the store, and he was injured in the left cheek by one of those shots.
Doctors have told his mother, that the bullet damaged a section of his cervical vertebrae, and that he will most likely be paralyzed from the neck down. The doctors were not encouraged that he wasn't responding positively after they brought him out of an induced coma, and so, they have conducted an MRI test to see if his brain was affected by the injury.
His mother told us today that the doctors should have the results of the test by tomorrow. All that medical attention is very expensive, and so, his school, Saint Luke Methodist Primary, is organizing events to help his family cover some of the cost. They have a barbecue sale planned for tomorrow, and a march for justice on Thursday morning.
We stopped by the school today, and the Vice Principal told us that the student population and the teaching staff are very worried about Kyron's health:
Carolyn Welch - Vice Principal, St. Luke Methodist
"We know that the bill is extremely high, and in an effort for us to assist, we are planning a barbecue sale for tomorrow. However, this evening, we are having a candle light vigil. We're inviting everyone to come out and join us because we're sick and tired of our innocent children getting hurt. We're tired of it, and for some reason or the other, the perpetrator or the criminals are not the ones feeling the pinch. The families are feeling the pinch. They are the ones being hurt repeatedly, financially, emotionally, spiritually, physically. As a school, we feel it very very much because we know Kyron. We know his parents. We know his siblings. They are past students of school, and we have some of them who are still coming here at our school. And when they hurt Kyron, they hurt the entire population of St. Luke Methodist."
Reporter
"How do you guys assist the students to cope with it? Is there counseling that is done for them?"
Carolyn Welch
"Yes, we do have counselor here, Miss Roxanne Jones. She works with the students, ongoing, from day 1, she starts to work with the student or students. For this school year, she has been extremely busy because it is a lot of students she has been working, whose siblings, parents they have been gunned down, stabbed, their homes have burnt down. They are left homeless, and we have been trying in all kinds of ways to assist and get over it."
Reporter
"How have the conversations been for the students, the faculty knowing that Kyron is fighting for his life right now?"
Carolyn Welch
"It's very hard on the student, especially in the classroom when they go in. Kyron is not just a student. Every single student on this compound know who is Kyron, and not one day goes by without you hearing his name. He's just that type of person. He does his little mischief, and he keeps on smiling, and that's the smile that catches everyone's attention."
This evening at 6:00, the school held a candlelight vigil on the compound to show their solidarity with Kyron.
If you would like to support the school in their fundraising effort, you can purchase a barbecue at the school for $7 a plate. The money will go to Kyron's family to help them cover his medical bills.
Email
Print