It was around 6:30pm on July 20 when 14-year old Saad Mahmud was fatally shot during a clash between the law enforcers and quota reform protesters.

Saad was playing with his cousin on the roof of a rented house in the Shahibagh area in Savar.

From the rooftop, he noticed smoke on nearby Chapain Road.

Driven by curiosity, he went to the New Market side of the road, where he was caught in police firing and sustained serious injuries, as per witnesses.

He succumbed to his wounds on the way to Enam Medical College Hospital.

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'Ma don't worry, I'll be home in two minutes'

With tears in his eyes, Saad's father, Bahadur Khan, recalled the incident at their village home in Manikganj's Singair yesterday afternoon.

"No one's son should die from police firing like mine. I will never get my child back," he said, tears streaming down his face.

Originally from Dhalla Khanpara village in Singair upazila, Manikganj, Bahadur had moved to Savar for his children's education.

A South Africa expatriate, he rented a house in Shahibagh.

Saad was the only son among three children. His eldest daughter, Taslima Khanam Nazneen, 20, is a second-year honors student in the Pharmacy Department at Savar's Gonoshasthaya University.

His youngest daughter, Afroza Khanam Nasurat, 8, and Saad were both students at Jabale Noor Dakhil Madrasa in Shahibagh.

When entering their village home around 1:00pm yesterday, Saad's father was seen sitting on a chair in the yard.

Saad's grandfather, Amjad Hossain Khan, 85, a former president of the upazila Krishak League, sat next to him.

Bahadur recounted the tragic events, saying, "I went to the road without seeing my son on the rooftop. I saw his favourite shoes on the road and rushed to the hospital, where I found him dead. There was a large bullet hole in his left thigh. My son had committed no crime. Why did the police shoot my child, he was only14?"

Saad's mother, Halima Akhter, fell ill from grief and could not speak. She remained silent and bedridden.

Relatives reported that Saad's body was brought to their village home that day. He was buried in the central cemetery in Dhalla village the following morning.