Teen boy dead, girl recovering after drive-by shooting in central Phoenix
PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) — A teen boy is dead, and a young girl is recovering after being seriously hurt in a drive-by shooting last week in central Phoenix.
Shortly before 5 p.m. last Friday, Phoenix police officers responded to the area of 1st Avenue and Thomas Road and found 15-year-old Isaac Perez Grado and a young girl shot. Police said that someone in a car opened fire on another car, injuring Grado who was inside. He was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. One of those rounds also hit a 10-year-old girl in the process, who was walking in the area with family. On Tuesday, Phoenix police said that Grado died from his injuries.
According to the family friend who started a GoFundMe account, the Flagstaff family was in town visiting relatives, and the girl was walking with her mother and three younger sisters to pick up dinner when a stray bullet struck her. “Oh, it was horrifying,” said the mother. “It was like I remember the moment she rolled over and that realization that my child has been shot, and you start thinking that a lot of people don’t survive a gunshot wound.”
A good Samaritan ran over to help after the young girl was shot. “He ran outside and was yelling across the street to people running out of St. Joseph’s,” she said. “He said, we need a nurse, need a doctor, send someone here, so some nurses ran over.”
The girl was rushed to Phoenix Children’s Hospital, where she was treated for an assortment of injuries. The bullet missed her major organs but fractured two vertebrae, lodging in one. She had nerve damage, and an x-ray showed the bullet in her back. Doctors determined it was better not to operate and leave the bullet there, but she is still in a lot of pain. “She’s in good spirits,” her mother said. “She’s been a trooper through all of it. She has blown me away at how resilient she is.”
The family is overwhelmed by all the support from friends and strangers. “Just really amazing what they’ve done for us,” the young girl’s mother said. “To make sure that we could better focus on her, and take care of her, and make sure she had what she needed.” She spent two nights in the hospital and can’t wait to return to school. She still can’t believe what happened. “I still think it’s crazy,” the girl said.
She now faces an extensive, long-term recovery, with nerve damage that could indefinitely affect the use of her right leg. “It is too early to tell if the nerve damage will improve or if using a wheelchair, walker, and braces will become her everyday reality,” it says in the GoFundMe. Tap/click here if you would like to donate as a way to help with the young girl’s medical bills.
The scene was spread across four blocks, and police say several businesses in the area were hit by gunfire. No arrests have been made.
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