RIYADH, 7 July 2004 — Abdul Rahman Al-Ahmadi may never walk again. The 24-year-old had worked hard to fulfill his ambition to join the police and work in the capital, but only two months after being transferred to Riyadh from Najran he was shot when he came under fire from terrorists.
The injury left him paralyzed from the waist down, and he continues to receive treatment at King Fahd National Guard Hospital.
Al-Ahmadi, the youngest of nine brothers, said the firing took him by surprise. “On April 12 after Maghreb prayers, I was with a friend named Sameer at a mosque in the Al-Fayha district. On our way to the car, we heard gunshots behind us,” he recalled.
“The noise was coming closer and then three terrorists carrying machineguns appeared and started firing randomly.”
He said Hussein Al-Hasaki, one of the Kingdom’s 26 most wanted men, may have been among his assailants.
“My friend headed toward the car trying to chase the terrorists despite the fact that he was not carrying any weapon,” he said. Then a bullet hit Al-Ahmadi in the spine.
“Sameer carried me to Al-Jazirah hospital, and from there I was immediately transferred to King Fahd Hospital, where I had surgery to remove the bullet, which had exploded in my body after hitting me.”
Despite the efforts of the doctors at the hospital and the good response from his weak body to physical therapy, he remains wheelchair-bound, though he is full of hope that he will recover if he can have advanced treatment abroad.
Al-Ahmadi said he did not regret joining the police force because it meant serving his country and his fellow citizens. He now lives with his parents and older brother Ibrahim, who came from Madinah to be close to him.
The Saudi Distribution Company, a subsidiary of the Saudi Research and Marketing Group, decided to grant Al-Ahmadi a financial reward for his services to his country.
