‘I don’t want to die, help me’: Child’s words after he was shot in stomach recounted by mother at trial

With quaking voice and tears streaming down her face, a single Hamilton mom described how she heard two gunshots and then the agonized screams of her seven-year-old son.

The mother of four, who can't be identified because it would identify her son whose name can't be published, took the stand Wednesday in the jury trial of Jayden Pitter, 22, of Hamilton. Pitter is charged with aggravated assault and recklessly firing into a place where another was present.

Watching a live surveillance feed from a front-door camera while she lay queasily in bed, she said she suddenly saw a car stop outside and then a man walking very slowly up the side of her house toward her backyard. She couldn't see his face, but she said she knew it was Pitter from his walk, his build and a high-end parka he was wearing. The reason she could tell, she said, was because Pitter had been at her home many times to hang out with other friends who congregated there to write rap music and play video games. She knew him both as Loki," a nickname, and Kyrie," from his kyrienumba11 Instagram handle.

It was her kids' bedtime on Jan. 23, 2020, in a small house on Gordon Street in lower east Hamilton. The woman, who wasn't feeling great, had just taken her boy and 10-year-old sister upstairs to tuck them in before lying down herself, she testified before Superior Court Justice Antonio Skarica, while two adult male friends remained downstairs in the living room.

Her son snuck back downstairs to continue playing, wrestling ... I thought I'd give him 10 more minutes to blow off some steam before bed."

All of a sudden, I saw a car pull up and I saw Loki walking up the side fence." She testified that she sprang out of bed and before my feet hit the floor, I heard two shots." It was just before 8 p.m.

From that point on, it was chaos. The mom said she ran so fast toward her screaming son that she tumbled down the stairs, ending up with rug burns and bruises. She was pregnant at the time.

She found him cradled in the arms of one male friend while the other rushed to get towels to staunch bleeding wounds in his abdomen and left hand.

I didn't know what was wrong or even if he was alive after hearing him scream." She said she was so scared that she could barely see him at first. Then, she testified, he said to her: I don't want to die, help me."

It was really bad. It's hard to even think about it now."

But under cross-examination, defence attorney Scott Reid suggested there are inconsistencies in what she told police in the immediate aftermath of the shooting and in subsequent statements to investigators, particularly around what the man she saw on her video was wearing.

Reid said she told officers immediately afterward that the man was wearing a light-coloured knee-length Moose Knuckles parka, but later on said the parka only fell below the hips. He suggested to her that her recollection of the jacket's length changed after she looked at pictures on Instagram.

That night, you didn't immediately recognize him, did you?" Reid asked her. The woman said that it was only when she was in the hospital while her seven-year-old underwent surgery that she was able to clearly think about what she saw on the surveillance video.

I didn't know it was Loki at the time until I was at the hospital." She testified that she never felt comfortable around Pitter, so I watched him closely. I knew his body and the way he was walking with his head down, looking at the ground, hiding his face. I know his walk."

Her son, who survived, spent four days on life support after surgeons removed a bullet from his hip joint and repaired his bowel and a wound to his left thumb.

Court also heard from Taylor McNally, who was staying with friends several houses down from home where the shooting happened. She said she was just about to go in the front door when she heard two pops" she thought were fireworks. Then she saw a man running while crouched over with his left hand in his pocket. The man ran to a white four-door sedan stopped in the middle of the street and jumped into the back driver's side door.

For a split second, she said she saw his upper face. I saw medium dark skin. I thought it might be Middle Eastern."

Prosecutors plan to bring Mohd Amiri, who they said earlier was the driver of the white sedan, to testify against Pitter. Amiri, who is charged with the same offences as Pitter, will be tried later this year.

Paul Morse is a reporter at The Spectator. pmorse@thespec.com