16-year-old shoots self dead with father’s gun
Last evening the community of Republic Park was thrown into
shock as a 16-year-old resident shot herself dead in the right
side chest minutes after sharing conversation with her father.
Dead is Lisa Prashad of 319 Republic Park, a fifth form student
at the Marian’s Academy who was preparing to write CSEC.
The America-born teen according to her father, Lincoln Prashad,
went home early after she complained of feeling unwell.
“This is unexplainable. We never expected this at all. We are
shocked. She came home early after her teacher called saying
that she was feeling unwell and we gaffed a bit then she went to
her room. Minutes later me and her mother heard what sounded
like something fall down in the kitchen and I told her mother to
check and see if something fall off the stove.”
Her mother said she went into the kitchen and all was well.
“Then I heard a gasping sound and though I’d check on
her.”
She said when she went into her daughter’s room she heard her
gasping and started to rub her head in the dimly lit room
thinking that she was just not feeling well. “I hold her and
started rubbing her head and then when I started rubbing her
back I realized that my hand was wet and when I turned on the
light I saw her father’s gun on the bed and then realized that
she was bleeding.”
The mother screamed for her baby and her father ran into the
room. It was then that he realized that his daughter had used
his gun to shoot herself. “She was gasping and I grabbed her
and ran out the house into the car and to the hospital.”
But when they got there it was too late. She had died.
Neighbours who expressed utter shock and disbelief described her
as a quiet girl who did not mix in the community but was very
mannerly.
“She had friends who would go over there and hang outside
sometimes but that aside she was basically a loner,” one
neighbour said.
Another said that she was preparing to watch Prime News when she
heard what she though was a firecracker or a gunshot, which she
says is a regular occurrence in the neighbourhood. Then news
came that the pretty, quiet girl whom she saw grow up in the
community had killed herself.
“This is a total shock because she is the opposite of her
sister in Canada. The sister was more social and outgoing but
was a top student while (this one) was quieter and somewhat
antisocial.”
Lisa was pronounced dead at the Woodlands Hospital where she was
rushed minutes after shooting herself.
Police in a press release last night said they are investigating
the circumstances surrounding the apparent suicide, which
occurred at the dead girl’s parents’ home at Republic Park,
East Bank Demerara, at about 19:00 hours.
The police said that the firearm, a .32
pistol, is in police
custody.
Firearm, a .32 pistol
Prashad’s apparent suicide comes a mere four days after
23-year-old Aliya Bulkan plunged to her death from the a cliff
near the world famous Kaieteur Falls.
Bulkan’s body has been spotted but a search team at the bottom
of the falls is reportedly experiencing some difficulty in
retrieving it.