Family of basket-baller shot in face preparing for the worst

Ronald Rivers

Tour guide, Ronald Rivers, who was shot once to the face by a gunman on March fourth is being kept alive through a ventilator and his family is now preparing for the worst. Rivers has undergone multiple rounds of surgery at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital but his condition has deteriorated to the point that his family has now taken a painful decision. Rivers was in a vehicle that experienced mechanical problems at the corner of Youth For the Future Drive and Vernon Street when he was shot. Duane Moody has that report.

Duane Moody, Reporting

It’s been over a week since Ronald Rivers was shot to the face and following several surgeries and other medical procedures, the family says that Ronald is being kept on a ventilator until Saturday when they will pull the plug.

Kylie Rivers, Sister of Shooting Victim

“The entire family went there because we had the decision to make to remove him from off the machine. Basically, he is, you could say dead. All his organs and everything has failed; only the machine is keeping him there. He is a fighter and he fought and you know, I think ih couldn’t ah hold up no more. Ih heart have wah lee beat, but noh enough. The doctor says ih gone already so the family came, we went there, we thought that we could have made the decision, but the doctors said that if we want, we could hold up until twenty-four to forty-eight hours just to make sure that he is definitely gone without no question or anything and perform a next CT-scan to calm the family; to make no doubt about it that he is definitely gone.”

According to sister, Kylie Rivers, Ronald experienced a massive stroke.

Kylie Rivers

Kylie Rivers

“He had the surgery Sunday and after the surgery he went into the ICU. It was just to relieve the swelling off the brain and they had to open his stomach to put it in there to preserve that part of the skull. And somehow within that time period, he developed an infection and also pneumonia and that along with everything else that he was going through shut down his entire system; his kidneys, everything. And as I said, he had a massive stroke right after that. So all of that together just compiled and I think he couldn’t handle it anymore. Anybody that saw him upstairs in surgical ward, he was fighting.”

The family is doing a barbecue on Friday to assist with his medical expenses and for funeral expenses.

Kylie Rivers

“We are still doing the barbecue on Friday right here on Antelope Street at his residence, Rivers Residence. As I said we are still looking for any little support, donation towards this cause.  Whatever his funeral expenses and whatever expenses he has at the hospital because he was in the private ward in the Intensive Care at the K.H.M.H. and definitely we will need to pay that bill before anything. So with that and with the funeral expenses, that’s what we are trying to raise funds for.”

Lloyd Alexander King

The family says that Ronald has no known enemies. And eighteen year old Belize City resident, Lloyd Alexander King was arraigned in Magistrate Court on March sixth for the Attempted Murder, Use of Deadly Means of Harm and Dangerous Harm upon Rivers. He has since been remanded to the Central Prison. When Rivers is taken off the machine, it is expected that the attempted murder charge will be upgraded to murder. Duane Moody for News Five.

Just prior to the shooting, Rivers, an avid basketball player, had returned from Petén in late February where he played one game in a basketball tournament. The team pulled out because of an offensive map that portrayed Belize as part of Guatemala.