syntax error, unexpected variable “$stmt” php sql query

This snippet works to secure SQL query and pass queries to the database, I have had this snippet work before but somehow it does not now. This part of the whole code I believe is self-contained so the error shouldn’t be outside of this area, I hope you can spot the error that I could not on the (userquery)$stmt = $conn ->prepare($sql);

if($location == 'names') {



                (userquery)$stmt = $conn->prepare($sql);



                $stmt->bind_param('ss', $n1,$n2);



                $result = $stmt->execute();



                $query = $stmt->get_result();



real_escape_string() Function

$name = mysqli_real_escape_string($con, $_POST['name']);





                include 'includes/userquery.php';



            }