A mother and son are now nursing gunshot wounds at a private hospital after they were both shot during a home invasion in the city early yesterday morning.
Manya Valenzuela, 39, and Donovan Valenzuela, 19, were confronted by three men, one of whom was armed with a handgun, some time between 2.30 am and 2.45 am at their Cadet Lane, South Ruimveldt home.
Manya was shot to her chin and Stabroek News was told that the bullet went through her throat and caused her windpipe to collapse. She is currently breathing through a tube. Her son, meanwhile, was shot to his right foot in the attack.
Destinee Kerr, Manya’s daughter, said it was her brother who first spotted the men entering the yard after he got up for a drink of water and looked through the louvre window.
She said her brother immediately grabbed a piece of wood from his bedroom and shadowed the men. According to Kerr, he waited for the men to enter through the kitchen window and stalked them from behind a wall that concealed him.
Once the men entered and unknowingly approached his location, Donovan Valenzuela struck the resulting in him dropping his gun.
Kerr said this prompted one of the invaders to say, “Shoot he!”
While the scuffle was going on, Kerr’s brother ordered her to close the front door since it was wide open and the men could have used it. The girl said she ran to the door but was panic-stricken and her attempts to close it were futile.
Her mother, who had been alerted by Donovan that invaders were about to enter the home, stood at the dining table. The commotion between her son and the bandit caused her to scream and one of the bandits tried to silence her by firing at her. He managed to shoot her in the chin and another bullet grazed her neck.
Kerr said her brother was also shot to his leg.
The young girl recalled her mother bleeding profusely and her brother urging her to call the police. She said 911 was engaged when she tried and after she finally got through no one showed up. As a result, Kerr had to take matters into her hand and got a neighbour’s assistance to rush her wounded family members to the hospital.
Both Manya and Donovan Valenzuela underwent surgery yesterday afternoon and they are both stable.
Kerr opined that after things didn’t go according to plan and the planned robbery turned into a bloody ruckus, the men fled. There was a large amount of blood on the vinyl floor when Stabroek News visited the home and the kitchen louvre windows had been blocked with pieces of wood. The kitchen floor also had scattered pieces of glass.
Kerr said she believes the robbers surveilled the home because the steps which led up to the front door had dog food. The girl said no one in the family placed the food on the steps and she suggested that the invaders placed it there because they thought that the family had vicious dogs.
Meanwhile, another neighbour said a few days earlier she almost fell victim to a home invasion.
She said she saw the men entering through her back gate and she quickly turned on the lights. The woman said this made the men scamper off.
The woman said she too had called the police then but they never came. The neighbour said she also called an impact patrol but it too also failed to respond. She said she had to contact the East La Penitence Police Station before any help was offered.
Police have on numerous occasions been accused of failing to respond to serious reports of crimes in the city.
