Ahad Abdullah, 4, loved to eat chicken, and his favourite toy was a racing car. On the afternoon of July 19, he was sleeping next to many colourful toy racing cars. 

Ahad woke up to a sudden, loud noise outside, which sounded like gunfire. He got up and went to the balcony with his father and mother. Police and Chhatra League were clashing with protestors demanding quota reform on the road beside their house.

Soon, Ahad fell backward, bleeding on the balcony floor. A bullet had penetrated his right eye and lodged inside his head. 

Ahad's father, Abul Hasan, a senior assistant at the Income Tax Department, said: “My son was completely different. Where can I find such a lucky kid now? He was standing on the balcony of his house. How can I forget this pain?”

Ahad's family lived in D Block of the Rayer Bagh area of Jatrabari in the capital. Abul Hasan, his wife Sumi Akhter, their elder son Dihan Matubbar, 11, and younger son Ahad lived on the eighth floor of an 11-storey building. Ahad's father is still bewildered; he doesn't know where people are safe or how a bullet could take his son's life so far above the streets.

"Within 10 minutes, I picked up my child, and local people helped me take him to the hospital, but the bleeding did not stop. The fighting continued below the building. We took him to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where he was kept in the intensive care unit (ICU) on life support for two days. On the 20th, at 8 pm, my little champ died," said Father Abul Hasan.

After the autopsy at the morgue, the family received Ahad's body at around 3 pm on July 21. That day, Ahad was buried in the family graveyard in Pukhuria village, Bhanga. His father said, "My Ahad was born and died in the same month; July 12 was his birthday."

Riya was shot in the head

Riya Gop died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital on July 24 after being under treatment for five days. 

On July 19, in the Nayamati area of Narayanganj Sadar, six-year-old Riya Gop went to the roof of the house with her family in the afternoon. Suddenly, a bullet hit Riya, who was a student of class one. 

Her family quickly rescued her and took her to the hospital. She was referred to Dhaka Medical from Narayanganj. Riya fought for her life for five days before passing away.

Her father, Deepak Kumar Gop, said: "Let no one else die like this." 

He added: "Activists were chased back and forth by the police on July 19, Friday. My daughter went to the roof of our four-story house with many others. Suddenly a bullet hit her. My daughter died on July 24." 

According to the hospital, Riya was shot in the head.

Samir wanted to be a footballer

Hearing the sound of clashes outside the house, 11-year-old Safqat Samir ran to close the window. But soon after, he collapsed; the house was covered in blood. 

Samir was shot in the head on July 19. His father, Sakibur Rahman, now has to hold on to the memory of his son, the blood stains on the wall, and the plastic toys and books on the table. This incident happened in their house in Kafrul, Mirpur, where Samir's paintings still adorn the walls.

Sakib said: "Safqat dreamed of becoming a footballer. I used to ask, why should you be a footballer? And my son would reply that he loved playing football." 

On that day, protesters clashed with the law-and-order forces on the road in front of Kafrul police station. As the smoke of tear gas fired by the police was entering Shafqat’s house, he was about to close the window when a bullet hit him in the eye. The bullet exited from the back of his head and hit the wall of the room, leaving a visible hole.

No one in the family understood whether the bullet came from the sky or the ground. He was taken to the hospital, but the doctor on duty said that Safqat died on the way. Shafqat's father also asked the same question: if they are not safe at home, then where is safety?

Father Sakib took clearance from Kafrul police station by signing a document saying that he voluntarily accepted his child's body and had no complaints against anyone.