A drive to buy a high-tech, motorised wheelchair for a shooting victim left paralysed has been launched.

Friends of Ralph Burrows, who was paralysed from the chest down after being mistaken for someone else and shot, decided to launch an appeal to raise $40,000 to buy a Levo C3 chair to give Mr Burrows back his freedom.

Now Shari-Lynn Pringle and businessman Deverio Hassell are planning a series of events and calling for donations to fund the purchase of the chair, which is not only mobile, but converts from a seating to a standing position to help to relieve pressure and the risk of sores developing.

“It would make a big difference because right now I’m not mobile,” Mr Burrows, who lives in Somerset, said.

“I have to have people push me around. With this wheelchair, at least I could go out on my own.”

Mr Burrows added that his primary caregiver, mother Elizabeth, suffers from health problems, including back trouble, and had difficulty pushing his basic wheelchair.

“It would definitely ease my momma a lot because she has a bad back and moving me around has not been helping at all,” he said.

Mr Burrows, a keen Liverpool fan and a former football player, added: “I’d like to be able to go to the nearby football club to watch a game or just go for a roll down to the tracks to watch the America’s Cup races.

“It’s something to do rather than sit at home watching the TV all day. I get bored and I’d rather be out moving around.

“I was never a person to sit still, so this is very depressing for me.”

Mr Burrows was shot in 2010 as he rode away from a house in St Monica’s Road, Pembroke, in the early hours of November 27, 2010.

A bullet hit his spine, leaving him paralysed from the chest down, although he has limited use of his arms. Another man suffered less serious injuries in the attack.

Mr Burrows, who had been a drug user and was involved in petty crime, had no affiliations to gangs and police believe he was mistaken for someone else at the height of a war raging between rival gangs. He spent about four years in hospital before being allowed home last year.

Since he was shot, Mr Burrows has become drug-free and a devout Christian, and donates his time to visit schools to talk to youngsters about the dangers of making the wrong choices in life — and where these choices could lead them.

Mr Hassell, a friend of Mr Burrows since their school days at Warwick Secondary (now TN Tatum) and the owner of Ocean Interiors, said he took Mr Burrows to watch matches in sports bars in Hamilton, but moving his chair presented huge transport problems.

He explained that only a handful of Bermuda taxis were adapted to carry wheelchairs, while getting to many bars involved flights of stairs.

But Mr Hassell said: “The wheelchair Ralph wants to get, if he wants to go outside for a breath of fresh air, he could do that.”

Ms Pringle added: “Ralph went to a city bar for a game and had to wait two hours after to get a suitable taxi to get home.

“The chair we want to get means he could get on a ferry and get back home on his own. It would give him his independence back.”

Ms Pringle said the fundraising drive had just started, but it was planned to ask about 400 people to donate $100 each as a starting point.

But she added: “We will take a dollar; we just want to help Ralph get more mobile, which will help his caregiver as well.

“Although we have a lot of mutual friends, we have some social media clout as well, so we were able to spread the word about what Ralph needs and we should be able to approach individuals and some organisations to help with raising the funds.

“If anyone is having an event and wants to donate part of the proceeds, we’d encourage them to do that. And, when we’re successful with this, we’ll try to do other things to help people in Bermuda.

“We know it’s not going to be easy, but we’re just going to buckle down. We have a couple of fundraisers planned to remind people of Ralph’s story. His story alone can help to prevent people taking a left turn when they should be taking a right.”

Ms Pringle said she had consulted the Charities Commission and had entered into partnership with a long-established Island charity, which will manage the fund-raising drive.

Anyone interested in supporting the fund-raising effort can donate to a Bank of Butterfield account which will be available later this week.