News reporter shot in chest, injuries superficial - New Year’s celebratory gunfire to blame
Published:Friday | January 3, 2020 | 12:53 AMNickoy Wilson/Gleaner Writer
Minutes after midnight on Wednesday while many Jamaicans celebrated the start of the new year, journalist William Mitchell was in hospital nursing a gunshot wound, resulting from a stray bullet, which came through his roof, hitting him in the chest.
It is believed that the bullet was from New Year’s celebratory gunfire in Southside, downtown Kingston, where he resides.
Mitchell, a news reporter at Nationwide News Network, said he was in his room, sitting on his bed listening to music when he sustained the gunshot wound.
“I heard a popping sound, and not long after, like almost instantly after the popping sound, I felt something hit me in my chest. It felt like a pebble hitting me in my chest, so I kind a ease up to figure out what fell from the roof and hit me in my chest, and as I did that, I felt the left side of my chest just kinda get numb, so I’m, like, ‘Wow! This feels strange’. So I got out of bed and turned on the light and looked in the mirror when I realised that the left of my chest was swollen, and there was a small tear in the skin there,” said Mitchell, adding that there was no bleeding.
NO INTERNAL DAMAGE
In an interview with The Gleaner yesterday, Mitchell said that he made his way to the hospital, where he was treated and subsequently released but not without initial scepticism from the medical professionals.
“I had to show them pictures of what happened for them to believe me. While at the hospital, I made a police report, and the police went to my house to check on the scene. Did an X-ray there, [and] based on the X-ray, it showed that there was no internal damage, just the superficial damage to the chest on the outside,” he said.
Yesterday, The Gleaner reported that a 15-year-old girl was shot in the head. It was believed that she was shot as a result of gun salutes as part of New Year’s celebrations.