MY SHOTGUN DREADING
REECE KING has been left with no saliva gland, partial deafness and ongoing fear of a repeat attack after surviving a shotgun blast to the face.
The Robina victim of a recent horror home invasion has spoken for the first time since the terrifying ordeal at his home which was invaded by three men.
“I pushed Mum out of the way, I was shot immediately. It could have been my mother,” he said.
A GOLD Coaster who was hit in the face by a shotgun blast during a home invasion is partially deaf and can’t eat properly but feels lucky to be alive.
Robina’s Reece King, 27, was shot in the face with a sawnoff shotgun in early April and has opened up about the horror of the home invasion that left him scarred and fearing for his life.
Mr King, who counts himself lucky to be alive let alone still talking, said the attack has left him shaken and afraid of retribution.
It was a normal Sunday morning, just before lunch on April 7, when three men allegedly forced their way inside the King family home brandishing a sawnoff shotgun and a hammer.
Reece’s mother, girlfriend, and brother Brandon were all home at the time.
A delivery driver by trade, Reece said he was lying in bed when he woke to the screams of his brother.
“My girlfriend woke me up and told me to go help my brother,” Reece told the Bulletin.
“I could hear her (his mother) and my brother screaming for help.”
Mr King said he ran to his brother’s bedroom door where his mum was trying to get in.
“My mum was banging on the door, then I pushed her out of the way.
“I was shot immediately,” Mr King said.
“It could have been my mother.”
Mr King’s 29-year-old brother Brandon was struck on the head with a hammer.
Still semiconscious and bleeding as the offenders fled, Mr King described them as “very skinny”, caucasian with a topknot ponytail and another with short brown hair.
“They were cowards to say the least, to need to use a sawnoff shotgun,” he said.
“They knew me and my brother would have taken them on no worries so they used a gun to take me out of the picture I think.”
The gunshot left Mr King with a broken jaw and eye socket, and a metal plate and screws in the left side of his face.
“I can’t eat properly and my saliva gland is damaged, where it can’t produce saliva in my mouth and it eats holes in my facial tissue,” he said.
Doctors are now working to reconstruct the nerve damage to prevent his mouth from drooping.
He is also now partially deaf and said he was unable to return to work while his wounds heal.
“I want to move away now (but) losing my job means I’m stuck in this damn house, that the criminals know where I am,” he said.
“They haven’t been caught, which adds to my stress a lot. I am worried if I went back to delivering they would maybe target me again if I was out on my own. I am pretty much jobless now, which adds to my stress.
“I am worried a lot by it all but also thankful life has given me a second chance.
“I’m just glad to be alive.
I AM WORRIED IF I WENT BACK TO DELIVERING THEY WOULD MAYBE TARGET ME AGAIN REECE KING
The surgeons said they have never seen anything like this in their careers and I’m the luckiest person to be alive.”
The attackers have not been caught but police say investigations into the incident continue.
Mr King believes the trio wanted items and cash.
“So they left in a hurry because a lot of people heard the bang and came running to the house,” he said.
During his recovery Mr King said he was surprised to see comments online about the incident, blaming him and his brother.
He said the lack of compassion over the attack was “hard to deal with”.
“Me and my brother don’t know the criminals and haven’t been involved in any criminal activity, we are both very quiet people and stick to ourselves,” he said. “We have social anxiety and would never involve ourselves in bad people.” The shooting victim said there was little sympathy for his near-death experience.
“I have been painted in a bad light because I have tattoos,” he said. “I have been discriminated against.
“But what person on the Gold Coast doesn’t have tattoos these days, my age?”