Gun Crime

On Friday night, my nephew was shot.

For once in his life not causing any trouble, J was sitting in the passenger seat of a car, window open, elbow out, as his mate M drove them home. Picture the scene as J suddenly doubles over and yells "Aaaah! Something hit me!" M stops the car and turns to his friend who has both hands over his face. As the hands come away, blood pours out in a torrent from a small, perfectly cylindrical hole one inch above his right eye.

After much panic, phoning of friends, mothers and various people, they get him to hospital where the bleeding is finally stopped. During all of this time, J is conscious and in pain. The doctors tell my mother what they suspect ... "A bullet!?" she screams.

X-rays confirm (and I will post a photocopy of the pictures onto this site as soon as I have them; because they are so incredibly startling). It's a bullet from an airgun, and it has entered his forehead at an oblique angle just above his eye, pierced his skull and lodged there, like a plug. Any greater velocity and it would have punched directly through his skull into his brain, and killed him instantly. An inch lower, and it would have entered his eye socket, penetrated his skull and killed him.

As it is, it's now lodged in his skull and doctors are loathe to remove it. If they do they will have to remove an entire circular piece of skull around the bullet and replace it with a metal plate. If they don't, they will have to cut him open anyway and shave the bullet down to form a metal plug that will stay with him forever. Right now he has a small perfect hole - looking like a freckle - on the side of his forehead, and a lump where the bullet is clearly outlined.

Imagine the incredible randomness of this act of negligence and violence on the part of the shooter. He must have shot aiming for the car and by pure and awful luck, the bullet entered an open window and hit the one place where the most terrifying damage could be done. And by pure, unbelievable luck my nephew survived.

It's so bizarre, it beggars belief.

What is more insane is that we can't really do anything. The incident will be reported to the police, who could track the trajectory of the bullet and possibly find the house or the window or even the person. But they won't. It will never happen.

Welcome to South Africa.