The 14-year-old seriously injured in last Sunday’s shooting in Laval may no longer walk and have to give up his passion for basketball.
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Sandrick Jorcelin, from the Boston, Massachusetts area, was leaving a party on Curé-Labelle Boulevard when his family’s car was riddled with bullets.
“Suddenly it was like they were in a war,” said Carducci Chery, a close friend of the family who heard their story.
Sandrick, sitting in the back seat, was shot in the middle of the abdomen, which damaged his large intestine, his lung and caused him to lose a kidney.
His 28-year-old uncle, Junior Lemoyne Printemps, who was driving, lost his life, while his mother was shot in the wrist. Another person in the car also suffered a minor gunshot wound.
The teenager spent several days at the Sacré-Coeur hospital in Montreal. He received a touching visit from a Laval policeman (photo) on Thursday morning who took care of him moments after the shooting. The scene was filmed by the family.
“I almost gave up,” Sandrick told her, crying.
“You are so strong,” the policeman replies later.
He took a flight to Boston, still bedridden, Thursday evening, to be hospitalized there.
“He still has a bullet in his spine,” worries Mr. Chery. The doctors didn’t want to remove him, because they don’t know if he’s going to be paralyzed. »
basketball dream
Sandrick, who plays for a basketball team and is a proud supporter of the Boston Celtics, could therefore never set foot on a court again.
“We want to believe that it won’t be that,” said Mr. Chery. He is a very active young man. »
“He’s a very nice young man,” continues Mr. Chery. As soon as he woke up, he said, “why do people harm each other in the world?” »
Mr. Chery has difficulty understanding why this car was targeted.
“I think there was a mistake about the person. I don’t believe anyone was involved in anything malicious [dans la voiture]. »
A resident of Boston, he was surprised at what he learned about the wave of violence that has been sweeping the Montreal area in recent years. “We definitely realize that Montreal isn’t what it used to be. What’s going on there? “, he asks.