Two men were shot in Villa on Wednesday morning in what police have described as attempted murder.
Both men, Natterell Stapleton, a 36-year-old vendor of Calder and Martin James, 44, a labourer of Villa, were shot in the abdomen between 8:40 a.m. and 8:42 a.m., police said in a statement on Thursday.
Stapleton, speaking to I-Witness News from his hospital bed on Thursday, said he sells produce to Young Island Resort and was returning from making a delivery when the shooting occurred.
He said he on his way back to his car near the Young Island dock when four masked men exited a white car.
“They just burst out the car and start to fire shots. So everybody start (sic) to run.
“A lot of us were there at the same time on the dock. Everybody start to run; I start to run too,” said Stapleton, who is originally from Rose Hall.
“But one of the stray bullets catch me in my back. The bullet go (sic) through me back and come through me belly. The doctor said I lucky because is one little inch away from my kidney, but it rupture my intestines,” said Stapleton, who underwent surgery to treat his injuries.
“I don’t feel too well about it because it is not easy when you are innocent and things like this happen. To be honest, I am the only breadwinner in my home. I have my mortgage to pay, I have my bills to pay, and when things happen like this, it is not easy,” Stapleton, the father of a 12-year-old boy, told I-Witness News.
(Editor’s note: One of Stapleton’s relatives objected to his photo being taken for this story.)