"Mom…I thought I was never going to see you guys again…I had given up. I couldn't fight off the guy."
Those were the words of the 17-year-old MIC Institute of Technology (MIC-IT) trainee involved in the hostage drama at the school on Monday to his mother after his ordeal.
The woman, who did not want either her son or herself identified as they were still severely traumatised, yesterday told the T&T Guardian it was her son's first day of training at the institute. He is doing an electrical and air conditioning course.
Up to last night she said her son was complaining of chest and stomach pains and was having problems swallowing as his neck and windpipe were damaged from the gunman's choke hold.
The mother said her father and two close family friends dropped her son off at the training centre at about 7.20 am.
"About 30 minutes after my husband got a call and was told for us to come down right now at the school because something has happened to our son."
She said when they got there they saw heavily armed police on the road and on the institute's compound and noticed the area was cordoned off.
"We were told to go straight to the principal's office. When I walked in I was told my son was held hostage at gunpoint. I saw my son sitting on a chair with his head bent to his knees. I started to cry and he said to me not to cry that I will make him cry, but he broke down. He was very scared," the mother said.
"My son told me that when the gunman grabbed him he was told to do everything he (the gunman) said. He told me that the gunman told him that if he didn't do what he said that he would blow his f---ing head off."
The woman said her son hasn't slept since and may need professional and spiritual counselling to return to that state of normalcy.
Police said yesterday that they are still investigating the case and were yet to charge the 32-year-old Santa Cruz Man man held after the ordeal.
According to reports, the suspect arrived at the O'Meara campus in a taxi with a 20-year-old female trainee. The taxi driver got out the vehicle and went to campus security indicating the passengers had been arguing and the man threatened to kill the woman. Police were contacted but when they arrived the suspect engaged in a shootout with them. The suspect ran into the school hall and grabbed the teenager, who had on headphones and did not realise the commotion going on around him. The suspect held a gun to the teen's head for 10 minutes before police convinced him to give up.