On her way home to cook dinner for her son, a Nelson Mandela Bay woman dropped her bags of ingredients and ran when she heard the jarring sounds of gunfire and screams.
Her heart beating excessively out of fear, Ursula Perry’s worst nightmare was realised moments later, when she found her youngest child’s lifeless body lying in a pool of blood.
Alton Perry, 20, had suffered a single, devastating gunshot wound to the head when he was struck by a stray bullet, robbing him of his dream to one day play cricket for the Proteas.
His mother said when she leant down to touch Alton’s body, he was ice cold.
“That’s when I knew he was dead,” Perry said of her son, who had Down syndrome.
The shooting in gang-plagued Helenvale had occurred in Stanford Road late on Monday afternoon as Alton sat on a porch overlooking his mother’s house.
Just more than 12 hours later, a street away, another man was shot, though he was lucky to survive.
Police spokesperson Captain Andre Beetge said Johnny Swarts, 49, was rushed to hospital after being wounded in Leith Street at about 8.50am on Tuesday.
Shocked onlookers hung out their windows and crowded the street to see what had happened.
What was evident, once again, was that crime in the area remains out of control.
“We can confirm that a critically wounded man, with gunshot wounds to the neck and shoulder, was transported to hospital by ambulance.
“A case of attempted murder is being investigated by the Gelvandale police.”
Regarding Alton’s death, Beetge said he was hit by a stray bullet from the crossfire between two rival gangs.
“His body was found in a wooden extension of a home.
“A case of murder is being investigated by the Gelvandale police.”
Perry said she was at a loss for words.
“Alton was my everything, my little shadow, and seeing him like that made me lose my mind.
“When I say I was praying, I mean I was praying with everything in me.
“I was numb and in shock, and I still am. His arms and legs were ice cold,” she said.
“He was the most beautiful flower in the whole world because God picks the most beautiful flowers first for his garden.
“So to see him like that was painful.”
She said that after work she had made a quick stop at a friend’s house in the area to get ingredients she stored there to make supper.
“I was making my way back home when I heard everyone going crazy among the loud gunshots,” she said.
“I heard someone say Alton had been shot and the adrenaline just kicked in.
“I dropped everything I had and ran.
“He was just lying there with people crowded around him.
“I pushed my way through, knelt down and hugged him.
“But I knew he was dead.”
She said Alton had lofty dreams.
“He was very clever.
“Alton matriculated from Happydale Special School and loved cricket.
“He just wanted to play for the Proteas, he always talked about the Proteas.”
Perry said she and Alton had shared a close bond and she was proud of the young man he had become.
“Raising a child with Down syndrome is not easy and I tried my best with God’s help.
“Though he was a bit slow, he communicated well.
“He was the reason I got up every morning.”
At least 23 murders have occurred in Nelson Mandela Bay’s northern areas since January.
HeraldLIVE
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