Bequia man shot in face and back

Enos Wallace Providence is willing to forgive the man who shot him at point blank range. The thing is, he just doesn’t know when he will make that step.{{more}}

Wallace, 42, a builder of Friendship Bequia, is still bemused as to why he was shot in the face and back last Saturday, November 6, by a man he says he has known all his life.

“I know the Almighty save me for a reason. But I just don’t know why this man shoot me,” said a baffled Providence.

Speaking to SEARCHLIGHT from his bed at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital (MCMH) on Tuesday, Providence said at about 10pm, he was in Port Elizabeth in the vicinity of “Kenny’s Record Shop” when he saw his attacker and some other men who go by the name of the “Street Click Crew” around the same area.

“I see when he go inside his house, because he ain’t live too far from where I was, and then he come back out and talk to the guys dem,” he recalled.

Moments later, Providence said his attacker went back into the house for a second time and came back to the spot where he (Providence) was liming.

“I see he come out, but I did not pay any mind, but when I look, I look to my left and saw him standing like three feet away from me …All I could see is a gun coming at me, so I pull back my head and same time the gun go off,” Providence recounted.

“I see fire pitch from the gun and bam. Is like the guy wanted to kill me. No doubt…I watch him fo two seconds after I got shot and I was like “What the (expletive)?”

He was shot above the left eye.

Providence said he ran from his attacker’s wrath and while doing so, two more shots were fired at him, resulting in gunshot wounds to the left and right side of his back.

A bloody Providence said he continued running until he met some guys not too far away. “I told one ah dem I get shoot and one of them in the crowd said, “Alyo (expletive) around. This is hard times.”

Providence was subsequently taken to the Bequia Hospital before being transferred to the MCMH.

A visibly aching Providence is of the belief that he was fired at because his attacker may have thought he was the one who undermined him in a matter.

“I know this guy all my life and I know he had a problem with two other guys and must be think I was with them. But why would I do that and I lend him money just recently,” he added.

Providence also believes that his shooting was a sign to turn his life over to God.

“I think this is a call for a turning point in my life, because I have my two sons, Vyad, 12, and Oreakay, 11, to look after,” he chimed.

“I want to forgive him for doing this, but I am in a lot of pain and I really don’t know when.”

As soon as the swelling goes down on his face, Providence will undergo surgery to remove the bullet. As for the two bullets lodged in his back, Providence said that doctors cannot locate one.

At press time, McArthur “Arthur” Leach, 27, a labourer of Bequia, was assisting police with their investigations.