WARNING: This post contains some graphic details.
A 13-year-old Vancouver boy remains on bed rest after someone in a moving car pelted him in the face with an egg.
Matthys van Bylandt was walking home alone at around 9:30 p.m. on Aug. 21 near the Canyon Heights Elementary School in North Vancouver, when the incident happened after a black Honda CRV drove by.
He walked in his front door with a bloody eye, North Shore News reports, and after receiving care from the Lions Gate Hospital, Vancouver General Hospital and B.C. Children's Hospital, the teen has a 50 to 75 per cent chance of losing his eyesight.
"The egg had hit him directly in the socket," his father Marcus van Bylandt said at a RCMP news conference Friday. "The blood was coming from inside the eye, and there's eggshell all through the eye... the white of the eye was actually cut open [by the egg]."
The RCMP is investigating the case and have identified a person of interest.
According to the North Shore News, the teen had six different visits with specialists in a five day period, and is doing what he can to keep his blood pressure low to avoid future rupture.
However, in a new interview with HuffPost Canada on Monday, Marcus van Bylandt said "things are going well now."
"Recent news has been positive," wrote the elder van Bylandt via email. "[Matthys has an] appointment tomorrow to find out how long he has to stay idle. Most of the worries are over now."
'Serial egger' could be to blame
But Cpl. Richard De Jong — a spokesperson for the North Vancouver RCMP — believes van Bylandt's attack to be the work of a "serial egger" or eggers, as this marks one of five recent egging incidents between Aug. 10 and Aug. 24 in the North Vancouver area.
"(This) tell[s] us it's a serious offence. It's assault causing bodily harm. This young man could lose his eyesight."Cpl. Richard De Jong, spokesperson for the North Vancouver RCMP
"The eggshell literally got into the eye," said Cpl. Richard De Jong, a spokesperson for the North Vancouver RCMP at Friday's news conference. "It was treated very seriously because of the damage to the eye and the optic nerve."
"One could only imagine what these injuries feel like. We've all had objects in our eye but to have an egg crack in your eye socket is very traumatic. (This) tell[s] us it's a serious offence. It's assault causing bodily harm. This young man could lose his eyesight."
With the investigation in its early stages, De Jong noted the 18-year-old person of interest is being "very co-operative" with police.
Also on HuffPost:
