Survivor of 2012 Linden shooting prays to be medically fit again

Mar 21, 2021 News

By Vanessa Braithwaite

Hector Solomon, a survivor of the Linden 2012 shooting.

Kaieteur News – With bullet fragments still lodged in his body, Hector Solomon, a survivor of a shooting in Linden, which occurred in 2012, is living a life of misery and pain. It has been close to nine years and he continues to suffer each day from a gunshot wound that has not only impacted his life physically but financially and mentally too. Even worse, he believes that he has been forgotten and while the families of those who perished during the shooting incident deserve compensation, he believes he too should be compensated, as his life and that of his family have never returned to normalcy.
Etched in Solomon’s memory is the date, July 18, 2012. On that date, Lindeners were protesting against the proposed hike in electricity tariff. By night fall, he would endure an experience that can be easily classified as the worse experience of his life.
As he recalled, he was standing alone near the Linden Electricity Company Inc. building, which was just burnt down, when he was shot.

(past and present) showing the area where Hector Solomon was shot.

Moments before that, he was working as a DJ, providing public address services to community leaders, who often needed to address the crowd. He had managed to slip away from the crowd, in his bid to go home. But tragedy struck during his valiant attempt. “I was standing away from the bridge on the Washer Pond Road, I was trying to get away to go back to the bridge because my computer and so were left on the bridge. The place was dark and I saw the police standing in front the crowd. I was just standing by myself watching what was going on. All I hear is gunshots left, right and center. Then a man, who was not too far from me, all I see, the man fall to the ground and a bullet fly straight through his face,” a teary-eyed Solomon recounted during an interview with Kaieteur News. “The next I know, I felt an impact on my chest and one of my friends that saw me said ‘them man just shoot me with a rubber bullet’. I started feeling dizzy and started walking away but this blood just keep gushing and gushing and gushing, and someone said, ‘this can’t be rubber bullet, this got to be a real bullet’.”
After walking for some time, he was taken to the hospital, where he was given the needed medical attention. There he saw the lifeless bodies of Shimroy Bouyea, Ron Somerset and Allan Lewis.
Since his condition was very critical, he was rushed immediately to the theatre for a procedure to remove blood out of his lungs. He recalled, “The doctor said to me, Mr. Hector your lungs are filling up with blood, and we need to insert this tube to draw the blood out. We cannot wait for the anesthesia to work in, we are cutting you now. I felt it.”
“They had to crack one of my ribs to get in a tube that was as fat as this,” said Solomon pointing to one of his thumbs.
The doctor, Solomon later learnt, recused himself from performing the actual surgery because he was ordered to not hand over any bullets to the patient or family members. Moreover, Solomon’s father decided to rush him to a private hospital, where the surgery was done. He was hospitalized for three weeks.
Although the bullet was removed, several fragments remained in his body and these; he confided, have contributed to his pain and suffering for almost nine years now.
It has not been easy for Solomon, who revealed that last September he had to undergo yet another surgery to remove two fragments that were sitting on a nerve leading to his heart. “The pain is unbearable. I hear women say they prefer labour pain than toothache and I’m telling you when these things that are left in my body start acting up, the pain is worse than toothache, it is unbearable. When the pain starts, I does have to go to the hospital to take two injections. Every time rain fall or lighting strike, it is like something shocking straight down my body for hours straight,” Solomon explained.
So excruciating has been the pain he endures that Solomon has swallowed his pride in order to plead for any assistance he can get to remove the remaining fragments from his body.
He revealed that, as a result of the injury, he is unable to provide for his family. In addition to being a DJ, Solomon was a porter, which allowed him to provide for his family. But since the shooting incident, he disclosed, “I cannot lift heavy weight; I use to be a porter and now I cannot work. After the surgery, I took a chance and went back in the bush because I needed money, but my injury got worse and the doctor stopped me from lifting heavy weight. I am the only boy child for my mother; I have a son…who is going to provide for my mother and sisters? Who is going to provide for my son?” Hector questioned as he struggled to fight back tears.
But Solomon is optimistic that with government’s intervention, his life could return to normalcy. Also, he pointed to the assistance that was provided to the families of those who died on that fateful day back in July 2012.
He recalled that a Commission of Inquiry (COI) was conducted into the shooting, but when it was completed, all he received was a mere $120,000 to purchase his laptop that was thrown into the river.
While the others who perished were the bread winners for their families, and their families deserved to be compensated since they were wrongfully shot, Solomon said his family has been equally affected emotionally, financially and mentally because of the incident and he too needs to be compensated.
According to the distraught man, all he wants is to be medically fit again so he can provide for his family.
On completion of the 2012 COI, it was recommended that $3M be paid to Allan Lewis’ family; $3M to Bouyea’s family and $2M to Somerset’s family.
Last year, the families of those killed collectively filed a $450M lawsuit against the State, on the grounds that the police were reckless and engaged in the unnecessary use of force that resulted in the deaths of their loved ones. The lawsuit was filed by attorney-at-law, Darren Wade, and in the application it was stated that the three men’s right to life and fundamental right to liberty were breached, encroached upon and infringed by the state.
Based on the settlement with the state, the estate of Somerset will receive $27M, while the estates of Lewis and Bouyea will receive $25M each. A COI into the shooting found the Guyana Police Force culpable in the deaths of the three protestors.