6 year old Travis Polanco died this afternoon after his 11 year old neighbor shot him in the head with a 16 gauge shotgun. It happened on Saturday evening around 5:00 in the Valley Community - at miles 18 on the Hummingbird Highway. Little Travis was playing near a palm tree about 45 feet away from his house when his 11 year old neighbor shot him through his window. Travis' father told us today that he saw Travis jumping and running wildly about and that is when he realized his son was shot. Travis was rushed to the Southern Regional Hospital then to the KHMH where he died today at around 12. We spoke to Travis' parents today after they made the hardest decision of their lives.
Gurly Bahadur, Mother
"They told me that my baby brains is dead and only the life support machine is keeping him alive."
Courtney Weatherburne
"Was it a situation where the family decided that it was time to pull the plug and you couldn't see your son suffer anymore?"
Gurly Bahadur, Mother
"I made the decision because I don't want to see my son punish. I know he is not punishing because he already die. From the brain dead - he is dead. I took out the plug because I am going through too much pain. I believe that the father should pay the consequence and leave the child where he is right now the same way, because the father has the fault because he had the gun in the house. He was home alone and the gun was home alone. I heard that the gun didn't have the bullet. The child even crank the gun and put in the bullet. So, I believe I should get justice."
Courtney Weatherburne
"Sir, do you think it's intentional?"
Thomas Polanco, Father
"To me yes, because the little boy had already told me that he will shoot my baby, but I didn't believe it. It was like 6 months ago when I came out of a traffic accident when the little boy told me. I told him not to talk like that because that sounded dangerous."
What is alarming- as you heard in the interview - is that the 11 year old boy threatened to shoot his son a couple months before the incident. In relation to this case, we spoke with Dangriga police and they told us that they cannot say at this time if any action will be taken against the father of the 11 year old boy but that negligence is a major factor in the investigation.
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