A Sandy Bay man narrowly escaped being added to the country’s steadily increasing homicide list after he survived being robbed and shot in Brighton.

One week later, he remains hospitalized with a punctured lung and his family is questioning whether the medical decision to not immediately operate on him will affect his ability to fully recover.

SEARCHLIGHT understands that the victim, a 45-year-old, was shot on Friday October 13, 2023 around 9 pm after he was returning from running an errand at a shop located the main road in Diamond.

A relative of the victim told SEARCHLIGHT that on the night in question, he made a trip the shop to assist someone with purchasing items and had been handed $100.

Around the time that he was expected to return, the relative said she heard what sounded like a gunshot and she phoned the victim to warn him and advise him to stay at the shop until any potential danger had cleared.

She said that repeated calls to his phone went unanswered and she hoped that he had safeguarded himself.

The 45-year-old explained that while returning from the shop, he was accosted by a masked gunman. He was forced to lie on his stomach while his pockets were searched. At the moment he believed that the ordeal was over, he heard an explosion and felt a pain in his back and later realized that he had been shot. After the masked man made off with the cash he had, around $80, the victim ran back in the direction of the shops to seek assistance. He was carried to the roadside to await transportation to the hospital.

It was only the morning after, when the items he had been sent for at the shop, along with a piece of victim’s identification, were discovered by the relative on the roadside that she realized something was wrong.

The relative told SEARCHLIGHT that the hospitalization has since brought additional worry for those close to the gunshot victim.

“They (the doctors) do a scan to see what the damage is. They say the bullet move now into his back. Then they do another scan and say it move again but they not going operate. Today now they say the bullet like it went through the lung. They say they not looking so much at the bullet, they want to fix the lung and if anything, the surgery can do probably next week.”

The relative said while they understand the decision taken by the medical team, they are concerned about the victim suffering long-term damage from the bullet.

“Is just now to hope and pray now that nothing don’t happen for he to dead.”

The relative said while she was aware of the incidents of crime occurring across the country and previous shootings that have occurred in the Diamond/Brighton area, she is shocked that someone close to her has fallen victim to gun violence.

“I know out here does have it issues sometimes but this here is something serious. How you go rob and shoot a man just for $80?”