An 8-year-old boy, among the youngest victims injured a Fourth of July parade shooting in Illinois, was hospitalized after a bullet severed his spinal cord. Now, his family says he is paralyzed from the waist down.
Cooper Roberts, an active boy who loves sports and the Milwaukee Brewers, always looked forward to going to the Highland Park parade with his parents and twin brother, family spokesperson Tony Loizzi said Thursday at a news conference.
But after a gunman opened fire at the parade Monday, Cooper was left fighting for his life as his family reimagined what life would look like for him when he recovers.
“It’s going to be a new normal for him going forward,” Loizzi said. “They’re not sure due to the severed spinal cord whether or not he’ll be able to walk again in the future.”
After the virtual news conference Thursday, the family’s verified GoFundMe page was updated to say doctors told the family that Cooper will be paralyzed from the waist down. Loizzi confirmed to CNN that Cooper was paralyzed but he did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment.
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Cooper has had several surgeries but on Thursday remained unconscious, on a ventilator and in critical but stable condition, Loizzi said.
“Cooper continues to fight as hard as he can,” the GoFundMe page said. “We know their medical bills will be significant as will the treatments and therapy that will follow. Please continue to keep the Roberts family in your thoughts and prayers.”
Cooper’s twin brother, Luke, and mother were also injured in the shooting.
Luke was struck by shrapnel and has returned home from the hospital, Loizzi said. But some of the shards remain in his body because it would have been too dangerous to remove them.
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Their mother, Keely Roberts, was shot twice in the foot and leg, Loizzi said. She has undergone two surgeries and may need a third.
Loizzi said when Roberts found out about Cooper’s condition, she “told her doctors and nurses that they should either discharge or she’d walk out on her own because she needed to be with her son.”
The family is “devastated” by the shooting and grappling with the effect it has had on their family and community, Loizzi said.
“If you know Keely, she’s just a fighter,” he said. “And it sounds like Cooper got that part of her in him because he’s fighting as hard as he can.”
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A community vigil for the Roberts family was planned Friday, according to Zion Elementary School District 6, which is 20 miles north of Highland Park and is where Roberts serves as superintendent.
“For seven years in Zion District 6 and other area school districts for many years prior, Dr. Roberts has done everything she can to support the needs of students and families in our community,” the school district said in a statement. “Now, she and her family need our help and support.”
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Contributing: The Associated Press
Contact News Now Reporter Christine Fernando at cfernando@usatoday.com or follow her on Twitter at @christinetfern.
