Zwade survives high risk operation; Maloney tense as relatives call for Peace Walk

Seventeen-year-old Arima North Secondary form five student Zwade Alleyne was as close to death at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex yesterday, as he was on Saturday night at Building 12, Maloney when an unknown gunman shot him in the head.

Doctors, his uncle Keron Bethelmy explained, found excessive fluid in Alleyne’s brain and intended to operate to drain the fluids at 7am. However, as they prepared for surgery, it was discovered that the teenaged footballer’s platelets had dropped to extremely low levels.

As a result, doctors, according to the family, ruled that it was too risky to proceed and instead gave Alleyne medication to address his platelet count.

Even as Alleyne’s mother, Keisha Bethelmy, and uncle tried to digest that news, the doctors returned with another update. Alleyne’s pupils supposedly began to swell, due to the fluids, and that was bad news.

“They said it is a risk to do this surgery but we have to do the surgery,” said Alleyne’s uncle—who is literally known in Maloney as Uncle Keron.

The family members were told that Alleyne’s chances of surviving the operation were 40-60.

“When they were carrying him into the surgery room, we could see the angel of death with him,” said Uncle Keron. “His mother was bawling…”

It was late on Tuesday night that medical staff confirmed Alleyne made it through the operation and would live to fight on.

“When they carried him in, I kneeled in front of the door and prayed,” said Uncle Keron, “and I didn’t get up until they were done… And while I was praying, God gave me the word: John 2:4—his time is not yet come.

“So I know for sure he is going to live!”

Still, Uncle Keron confessed that Alleyne has a long way to go before he can get his life back. Doctors also informed the family that there is nerve damage where the 9mm bullet whistled through the back of his head.

“He is still a high-risk patient,” he said.

The Bethelmys are urging their Maloney neighbourhood and the Arima North Secondary community—and indeed the rest of Trinidad and Tobago—to pray for their stricken relative.

• (Video by Keith Guevara/ Uncle Keron Youth Empowerment Movement.)

On Sunday, there will be a Zwade Prayer and Peace Walk which will lead well-wishers from the Arima Velodrome to Maloney. It is a trek of between an hour to 90 minutes.

Uncle Keron, the organiser of the walk through his Uncle Keron Youth Empowerment Movement, promised police presence to ensure the safety of participants.

Just 32 years old, Uncle Keron has been trying to fix Maloney’s problems through prayer and community spirit for years.

“I used to pick up children from the area, like Zwade, and go in the park on Sunday evenings,” he said of their informal ‘Sunday School’ sessions, “and say a scripture, give them something to eat.”

Once a Trinidad and Tobago national youth footballer and a midfielder for Caledonia AIA, it was natural that his activism eventually led to the revival of the community team: Maloney Real Footballers FC.

Alleyne, a former FC Ginga midfielder, represented the Maloney team at the 2025 Republic Bank National Youth Football League (RBNYFL) and helped the team to the Trinidad Under-17 quarterfinals.

Among its talented young players, the Maloney Real Footballers unit includes National Under-15 Team defender and St Anthony’s College player Jaimarley Ali.

Alleyne, while just 15, represented the Dial Dynamos in their successful 2023 East Zone Intercol campaign and lifted zonal Under-16 League and Knockout trophies for Arima North in that season as well.

His promising career counted for little on Saturday night, as he limed with a few friends outside his front door on the third floor of Building 12.

A gunman, according to sources, was dispatched to the area to shoot-up a gambling session. It is believed to be part of a dispute between rival gangs: Rasta City and ABG (Anybody Gets It).

Building 12 is located within the geographical area considered to be ABG territory, although neither Alleyne nor his friends are gang members.

The gunman fired from near the street at the first congregation of young men that he saw before running away. Police found 15 spent 9mm casings at the scene.

Alleyne was shot near his left ear with the bullet exiting through the back of his head. One other boy was grazed.

Uncle Keron overruled the objections of relatives and drove Alleyne to the Mount Hope hospital, rather than the nearby Arima General Hospital.

“The last person I carried Arima [Hospital] dead because they don’t have certain things,” said Uncle Keron. “And this is a headshot—I didn’t want to take that chance.”

Violence stalks Maloney—but then that seems to be the way of many at-risk communities at present.

On 15 April 2025, Alleyne’s former Arima North teammate, Ezekiel Ramdialsingh, was shot dead in La Horquetta. And on 19 September 2024, another former Arima North football star, 20-year-old Jayden ‘Mr Smooth’ Moore, was murdered during a botched robbery in D’Abadie.

Moore was a Police FC player in the TTPFL Tier One at the time of his death.

Today, incidentally, Uncle Keron leaves his nephew’s side to attend the funeral of another former Maloney resident and footballer, Dacian John. The 36-year-old John, a Coast Guard officer, was murdered during a robbery in Point Fortin on 2 May 2025.

For the past two nights, Uncle Keron said, things have been tense in Maloney.

“The community is hurting,” he said. “Parents are telling me that their children can’t sleep and not eating. Boys are constantly calling to get updates on Zwade.”

It is not the only repercussion from Saturday’s shooting.

“I’m hearing that gunmen on the move too,” said Uncle Keron. “The criminal elements from ABG say they’re not taking that so. I heard there were shootings on Sunday night and shootings again on Monday night.

“I will try to talk to them—both sides. A lot of these heads would have been little boys who used to attend my Sunday school or who have children in my Sunday school right now. So, they have a certain level of respect for me.

“All I can do is tell them to repent and to stop the violence. This is not the way, because what a man sows, he reaps.”

On Monday morning, Minister of Education Dr Michael Dowlath initiated moves to re-register Alleyne to sit exams in 2026 at no cost to his family. Counselling was also offered to his schoolmates at Arima North, and Wired868 understands that over a dozen boys had sessions with the school’s Student Support Services Division (SSSD) staff today.

Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) general secretary Azaad Khan also expressed “profound concern over the condition of Master Zwade Alleyne” in a statement to Arima North today.

“We hope and pray that he makes a full recovery and the League has him in our thoughts and prayers,” stated Khan. “Please convey our sentiments to his parents.”

Camille Robinson-Regis, the member of Parliament for the area, said she too is praying for the family and urged the wider public to do the same.

“I have been in touch with Keisha (Alleyne’s mother) twice since Monday and I have been following his progress since he was hospitalised,” Robinson-Regis told Wired868. “I know he is in an induced coma and I’m asking for God’s intervention so that he survives this and comes out on the other side strong.”

The family is grateful for the attentiveness of the medical staff at Mount Hope, as well as the expressions of love and support from the public.

But it remains a dicey situation. Tuesday was particularly trying for the family.

“It seemed as if Zwade had stopped fight and that broke me,” said Uncle Keron. “The doctors just kept bringing worse and worse reports. Then after an hour and half in prayer, I saw him start back to fight and I saw God fighting with him.

“Yesterday was a real challenging moment and a real challenging feeling with his mom. It was real, real tough…”

This afternoon, doctors warned the Bethelmy family of the possibility of “brain death” for the young man as well. Uncle Keron responded by pleading with Trinidad and Tobago to not only pray for Zwade but to fast too.

Thus far, the outpouring of love from the wider community continues to fuel the family, as they support Zwade in his recovery.

They hope for a physical manifestation of that affection in Sunday’s Prayer and Peace Walk for the young man, starting at the Arima Velodrome.

Editor’s Note: Doctors informed the family of Zwade Alleyne, on the evening of Wednesday 14 May, that they do not believe the young man will recover from the injuries to his brain.

However, a further test for brain activity will be conducted over the next 24 hours before the family decides how to proceed. Alleyne’s heartbeat remains strong.

• Maloney Real Footballers pray for Zwade Alleyne on 14 May 2025.