Child hit by stray bullet from nearby wedding

AMMAN — An 11-year-old boy, who was struck in the head by a stray bullet in the capital’s Ashrafiyeh suburb over the weekend, remains hospitalised in critical condition, police said on Saturday.

The victim was playing on the roof of his house when he was struck by a stray bullet from a nearby wedding, Public Security Department Spokesperson Maj. Amer Sartawi told The Jordan Times.

“We arrested a suspect who was shooting from a pump-action gun to celebrate a wedding near the victim’s house,” Sartawi said, adding that the child remains hospitalised in critical condition while the suspect was referred to the criminal prosecutor for further questioning.

“This is another unfortunate incident, although we always try to raise people’s awareness on the need to avoid using live ammunition to celebrate any happy occasion,” he noted.

Health Minister Ali Hiasat visited the child, Yazeed Zamel, at Al Bashir Hospital on Saturday and spoke to his relatives, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Hiasat said festive firing is an extremely dangerous and uncivilised practice that must stop, calling for boycotting any wedding or celebration where attendees use weapons.

Al Bashir Hospital Director Issam Shraideh said the hospital receives a patient injured by stray bullets from festive firing on a daily basis, Petra reported.

Zamel’s family urged the authorities to take strict measures against those responsible and work to end the phenomenon of celebratory gunfire, which threatens the lives of innocent people at their homes. 

According to Sartawi, patrol units are dispatched to locations where weddings are scheduled to take place to “try to control this issue in particular”.

“We have patrols driving through neighbourhoods that we know are hosting weddings because we realise how dangerous it can be to use live ammunition during such occasions,” he added. 

Police officials have told The Jordan Times in previous interviews that there are misconceptions that fired bullets never return to earth, but people do not realise that bullets can travel almost three kilometres from their original shooting location, and that they fall with double the speed and strength.

Experts and sociologists have said that the practice of festive firing dates back to the beginning of last century when people used it to announce certain occasions because of non-existent communication methods, and this habit’s tradition was passed on to subsequent generations despite the availability of various means of communication.

Festive shooting is also connected to the tribal practice of firing weapons as a means to express joy and display strength.

There are 117,000 licensed weapons of different types in Jordan, according to recent Interior Ministry figures.