Latest update March 20th, 2025 5:10 AM
Latest News
- Guyana’s oil growth boosting regional economies– CDB Director of Economics
- Suspected outbreak of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease in Region Four
- Israel launches first ground offensive since Gaza ceasefire collapse
- Sod turned for $665M expansion of St. Stanislaus College
- Pensioner jailed for raping child
16-year-old waitress shot in face during botched robbery
– Gunman threatened to kidnap victim days ago
A 16-year-old Better Hope, East Coast Demerara (ECD) waitress was shot in the face Friday night during a botched robbery at the Chinese Restaurant where she has been working part time for the past three months.
Shot: Onika Luke
Onika Luke, of Lot 1 Vryheid Lust, ECD, is in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at a private hospital.
Luke’s left thumb was shot off by the lone bandit. The bullet passed through her chin and is lodged in her throat.
Police in a statement said that about 22:45 hrs, the Vryheid Lust resident was working at the Lucky Star Chinese Restaurant when a man entered and ordered a meal.
While paying for the food, the man held onto Luke, who was behind some grill work and pulled out a firearm and demanded cash. When she resisted, he shot her and escaped.
Kaieteur News was told that the victim managed to write what transpired Friday night on a piece of paper and gave it to the cops.
She reportedly identified her shooter as a tall man of African descent. He has a tattoo on his neck. She told the cops that the shooter had threatened to kidnap her a few days ago while she was walking on the road.
The teen’s brother, Rickford Ranjee, said that he was asleep when the owner of the Chinese Restaurant visited their home and informed relatives that Luke had been shot and that she was at the hospital.
The restaurant where the teen was shot.
“He told me to put on clothes and let’s go to the hospital. When I go there now, I see she ain’t only get shoot to her thumb but to face and the bullet left in her throat. The doctors are now working to remove it,” Ranjee explained.
The sibling revealed that he was informed that the shooter entered the restaurant and ordered half veggie fried rice.
“When my sister collected his (gunman) money and put it in the drawer, he grabbed onto her jersey and pulled her towards the grill. He told her to give him the money in the drawer but how he holding her, there was no way she could have reached the money,” Ranjee related.
He further revealed that because his sister could not have reached the cash, the bandit fired a shot, which struck off her thumb, hit her chin and lodged in her throat.
“She is only 16 years; that person aint got no heart. That money is not her own,” the devastated brother lamented.
He said that at the hospital, his sister wrote on papers and informed the cops that her shooter would normally frequent the Better Hope area.
“She said she doesn’t know him but she does see him around and she could identify him. The same boy, she said, had told her that he noticed she walking late and that he would kidnap her,” Ranjee said.
The teen attends St. John’s College and works at the restaurant after school.
Police are now trying to locate the shooter.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
No immigrant should feel safe in America today
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- There was a time when an illegal immigrant in America could live in the shadows with some... more
If Guyana’s President Ali is the “Zelensky of the Caribbean”, who is the Putin?
Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the US and the OAS, Ronald Sanders By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- In the latest... more
Weekend Cartoon
