Two days after his birthday, a 20-year-old landscaper from Chaguanas was left fighting for life at hospital after he was shot in his head by armed assailants at his home on September 24.

Sandra Roopnarine said her son, Ravi St Clair was sitting at the back of his Agostini Settlement, Lime Head Road, Chase Village, Chaguanas home when two Spanish-speaking men approached him asking for water around noon.

She said his girlfriend went inside to fetch it for the men who work in the area, but heard a loud explosion shortly after. She said St Clair was found on the ground bleeding from a hole in his head. Fearing an ambulance would take too long to reach, she said her son was taken to the Chaguanas District Health Facility, escorted by police who met up with them on the way.

According to the latest update, she said, St Clair was warded at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mt Hope, in critical condition.

When Newsday visited around 4 pm, St Clair's uncle Deonarine Roopnarine, 40, who lived a few houses away from where the attack occurred, was with his family, trying to process the events that unfolded hours earlier.

"It have to be a targetted thing."

"It's a shocking and very sad thing because I know the boy working and have nothing to do with anybody. It very sad to be hearing that he in he own place."

Sandra. a mother of five, said this was the first time something like this occurred in the area and has stolen the family's peace of mind and sense of safety.

"I would not feel safe for me and my children."

Deonarine felt the same way, saying, "If you sit down in your own back shed and you could get shot, who's anybody else? Too much crime. They have to do something about this. That's all I have to say."

Neighbours also described the incident as shocking, sending ripples through the community. One such neighbour, Sheldon Nanhey recalled St Clair growing up in the village and that he last saw him on Monday when he purchased some crab from him. While he said they were concerned, he said they have no choice but to accept the reality of the crime situation.

"You hadda do what you hadda do at the end of the day. If it comes to this, you have to do what you have to do."

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