As he prepared to be released from hospital, 15-year-old Nicky Tucker, Jr. expressed his disbelief at being a victim of an apparent reprisal shooting.

Mr. Tucker was shot in the foot by an unknown gunman as he and others celebrated the acquittal of murder accused Everett Jahni Bean at Mr. Bean's Warwick home. Mr. Bean and others ran off after sensing something was wrong.

Four Sandys men are in Police custody assisting them with inquiries.

Mr. Bean, 20, and his cousin Quincy Stanley (Jimbo) Brangman, 24, stood jointly accused of killing Tekle Zion Mallory, 22, after a fight broke out between the men at the Ice Queen in Paget on July 21, 2001.

On Monday afternoon Mr. Bean was told he had no case to answer due to lack of evidence by Assistant Justice Archibald Warner. And yesterday, Mr. Brangman was found not guilty of murder but guilty of wounding Lemuel Weeks, with intent to do grievous bodily harm, during the brawl outside the take-away restaurant on July 21, 2001.

And he was also found guilty of being in possession of an offensive weapon on the same date. He is expected to be sentenced today.

"I never thought I would be laying up with a gunshot wound," the CedarBridge student told The Royal Gazette from his bed in King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

Mr. Tucker recalled what happened around 9 p.m., an hour after he arrived at Mr. Bean's Jones Village home.

"A lot of guys were just sitting around with Jahni because he had been released. I remember Jahni talking to his brother's wife when I heard the first shot," Mr. Tucker said. "I didn't even think it was a gunshot. I thought it was somebody's tyre blowing out."

But then, said Mr. Tucker, everyone started to run inside of Mr. Bean's house, including himself.

"It was like a movie. People were saying `Turn off the lights'," he said.

Almost immediately after he heard a second shot, Mr. Tucker said he felt a burning sensation in his foot.

"I felt something stinging me and my foot was hot," he said. "Then when I got to the house door I noticed a hole in my shoe."

The student said when he first said he had been shot, people thought he was joking until he removed his shoe and his foot was bleeding profusely. While he said he was not scared when he realised he had been hit, he admitted his surprise when he saw the bullet lodged just below his ankle.

As he recognised that his injuries could have been worst, Mr. Tucker said he is grateful to be alive: "I was glad it hit me in the foot. If the bullet had hit me higher up, I probably would be more afraid."

"I'll tell you one thing. I'll never go to a party where someone gets off on a murder charge again."

Meanwhile, Mr. Tucker's mother, Diane spoke to The Royal Gazette from her hotel room in Boston. She is accompanying a family member who is receiving medical treatment. Mrs. Tucker said she experienced a range of emotions when she heard what happened to her son.

"I was shocked, vexed, and devastated. How could this have happened to my son?" The mother of three said when her nephew broke the news to her over the phone, she had to ask him to repeat it.

"Oh no, not my son," she said she remembered thinking.

And Mrs. Tucker had harsh words for the gunman. "This is not a game. You picked up a gun and starting shooting at innocent people. You could have taken my son's life or someone else's."