NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Maude Thompson was inside her Soursop Street home with her three-year-old granddaughter on Saturday evening when she heard two gunshots near the home, and four more shots seconds later near the bedroom window.
Speaking to Eyewitness News in the driveway of her home yesterday, Thompson said she never imagined it was her daughter, Laura, 32, who was shot as two armed men sought to rob her as she arrived home.
I don’t know why it happened, but being the type of person she is, when that person came to her car window and said come out of that car, her first instinct was this person wants to come in here and that is why she drove off. — MAUDE THOMPSON
The men demanded that she exit her Suzuki Swift as she arrived home around 9pm.
But she sought to evade them, reversing her vehicle to get away.
The armed men began shooting.
Laura was shot in the face, and a second bullet grazed her head and a third struck her arm, near her chest.
As the gunmen closed in and sought to block her vehicle, Laura exited the car and ran to the neighbor’s home across the street, blood pouring profusely from her head as she called for help.
The men got in her vehicle and drove away.
Thompson said a neighbor ran over and told her someone had shot her daughter and taken her car.
According to Thompson, her daughter remains in stable condition in the trauma section of the hospital, though the bullet remains lodged in her arm and could not be removed up to yesterday.
Thompson said she was speaking on her own, but would have to remain in hospital for surgery.
Asked why the mother did not hand over the car as she looked down the barrel of a gun, Thompson said her daughter said she attempted to run to protect her and her daughter, fearing the assailants would seek to enter the home and harm them if she complied.
“I’ll say to anyone who asks me, my God was in the midst of that and every angel,” Thompson said.
“She wouldn’t have been there if it wasn’t for Him.
“I don’t know why it happened, but being the type of person she is, when that person came to her car window and said come out of that car, her first instinct was this person wants to come in here and that is why she drove off.
“She tried to drive away and the first two shots was while she was here.”
Thompson pointed to the broken shards of glass on the ground, which appeared to come the side window of the vehicle.
“She swung her car that way and the car what they came out of pull across her apparently,” she said, recounting the details her daughter and her neighbor shared of the traumatic incident.
“I don’t know how she got out of that car to this moment, but she got out and ran to the neighbor’s house.
“She was here and she thought of me and her baby.
“That’s what she will say to anybody, that her first instinct was her family.
“I heard all of the shots, but let me tell you when I heard the shots this is what I said: Lord, wherever my daughter is please cover her, not knowing the first two shots I heard was here in my yard.
“I didn’t know that.
“I never thought it was my child, never, and when I found out, I lost everything inside of me at that time and all I could of said was Lord, I thank you.
Yesterday, one area resident told Eyewitness News the incident has shocked the close-knit community and made residents fearful.
Another resident, who recalled hearing the six shots, said while Pinewood is no stranger to violence, incidents were uncommon on Soursop Street.
He said the incident was reflective of the times, adding it was worrying that the mother could be shot in front of her home as it could have been any one of them.
All names in the story have been changed at the family’s request.
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