have we replaced humans with beasts? Something Must be done!
GIRL, 7, SHOT DEADA seven-year-old girl who told her parents she did not feel like going to school, because it was the last day of the term, was shot dead when two gunmen stormed her cousin's home yesterday.
She was at her school's Christmas party on Thursday and was told it was all right to remain home yesterday, a relative said. It proved to be a fatal decision.
Little Abigail Norman, of King Street, Penal, was shot in her neck when the gunmen randomly opened fire, then started asking questions. They asked about the whereabouts of a man who lived in the area.
"'Keston, where are you? We looking for you'," was one of the questions Abigail's uncle, Robert Neverson, said the men asked.
Abigail slumped to the ground at the entrance to the front door and died.
Her cousin, Patrice Alexis, 21, who is eight months pregnant, was shot on her right arm. She was being treated at the San Fernanado General Hospital last night.
A relative who requested anonymity said: "I was cleaning the ceiling and Abby came outside and told me that she was going across to play with her cousin, and just before she left I gave her a hug and a tap on the buttocks and told her to be careful and that was the last time I saw her alive."
Four other people who were in the house escaped unhurt.
Abigail, a Standard One pupil of the Penal Presbyterian Primary School, lived with her parents, Mark Norman, 31, a Ministry of Works employee, and her mother, Millie Norman, 31, a nurse at the San Fernando General Hospital. They were too distraught to speak yesterday. They live opposite Alexis.
Neverson, 36, said: "Around 12.10 p.m. someone called me and told me that two men went into the Alexis house and started firing shots inside the house."
He said the men did not wear masks.
Neverson said, "Abby had her Christmas party in school yesterday (Thursday) and she told her parents that she was not feeling like going to school today."
Neverson said the other people who were in the house when the men started shooting ran to safety.
The gunmen escaped in nearby bushes, he said. The girl's killing pushed the toll to 526 for the year.
The Homicide Bureau is continuing investigations.