Dr. Cuellar, who is KHMH?s Chief Medical Officer, informed us on Wednesday that Ryan, who is presently at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), sustained gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen. The 4 to 5-hour surgery was to repair major injuries to his liver, gall bladder, gut, and some major vessels.

Dr. Cuellar said that the boy was in a critical state after the operation, and that he would have to undergo further surgery on Thursday. Ryan was put under sedation and on a ventilator.

Late this evening, Ryan?s grandmother, Mrs. Plunkett, informed us that her grandson had woken up this morning and was able to relay to them what had happened Tuesday night, but he was undergoing his follow-up surgery this evening, Thursday, said his grandmother.

Marie, Ryan?s mother, told the newspaper that she was at home on Supal Street when she got a call informing her that her son had been shot and had been taken to the KHMH.

Ryan was in the company of his brother, age 12, and two cousins, ages 10 and 12, at the basketball court when a youth he knew approached him and asked him if he wanted to die, the mother was told.

She said that the shooting stems from a long-time beef between her son?s assailant and another man. Marie said that about a month ago, the person who allegedly shot her son told her that he was going to kidnap her son, because someone in her family had allegedly been harassing him for quite sometime.

She added that the youth had warned her that if he couldn?t get to the person who had been harassing him, then he would either turn on her or her son for revenge.

Earlier that day, Ryan had lost a basketball game at Bird?s Isle. After the game, he went home to Supal Street, and then to the St. John?s basketball court in that area, where she believes her son?s assailant dodged and shot him, even though, according to the mother, they had never exchange harsh words.

She said that the person who shot her son had also been bullying the other children, including Ryan?s two cousins, who were at the basketball court that day. They ran off, but Ryan stayed behind.

The youth, she said, just walked up to her son, took a gun from the front of his pants, placed it under Ryan?s shirt, and asked him if he wanted to die.

In the blink of an eye, he shot Ryan in the abdomen once, before fleeing the scene.

At press time, police had still not apprehended Ryan?s assailant.