Breastfeeding baby shot: Girl, 1, mysteriously struck in her hip while at Manenberg carnival
|Published
SHAME: Almaaz Mahamed had a bullet removed. Picture supplied
The community of Sherwood Park in Manenberg was left shocked and traumatised after a one-year-old girl was hit by a stray bullet while at a carnival on Saturday.
Little Almaaz Mahamed was shot in the right hip while her unsuspecting mom was breastfeeding her.
Ouma Faldelah Mahamed tells the Daily Voice they did not even hear any gunfire and were shocked to see the child bleeding.
“We were all at the carnival because one of my daughters-in-law had a stall there, so we went to show our support and help,”she explained.
“Almaaz went on the rides and she started crying for t*tte and her mom started feeding her so that she can go back to the rides.
“My daughter-in-law said she fed Almaaz but she was just crying continuously and she lifted her up and saw that the child was bleeding, so my son put her in the bakkie and rushed to the hospital.
“There was no shooting on the field, we didn’t even hear any gunshots, it was so strange and so quick because it is seldom that they shoot by our side, we don’t know where the bullet came from.”
Faldelah says the bullet travelled into Almaaz’s stomach and she underwent a three-hour operation to remove it.
“Almaaz just started walking recently but she is doing well, she is a fighter. The first X-ray showed the bullet in the right hip, then the second X-ray showed it is in the stomach, but it did not cause any damage and was removed,” she added.
The organiser of the carnival is a local crèche teacher who hosted the two-day event on Friday and Saturday.
The woman, who asked not to be named, said: “We also don’t know what is going on because there was no shooting on the field.
“We had people from the community have food stalls and rides and jumping castles for the kids. It was our first fun day and, overall, everything went well but we don’t know when the shooting took place, it was just announced that it happened.”
Police spokesperson Joseph Swartbooi confirmed that Manenberg SAPS registered an attempted murder case.
“Reports suggested that the victim sustained an injury as a result of gunshots near to the corner of First Avenue and The Downs Road,” he added. “The circumstances surrounding this incident are still under investigation.”