Family says 14-year-old shot in Montgomery may be paralyzed

MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) - A Montgomery teen remains in the hospital after being shot. The family of Gustavo Gomez Rosales says the boy was the victim in the Mallory Street shooting that happened last Thursday near Lee High School.

“He has two lungs collapsed, part of his liver they took out, and his spinal cord is messed up,” said Jacqueline Ojeda, sister-in-law of Gustavo.

Ojeda says 14-year-old Gustavo has already undergone three surgeries and there is a chance he may never walk again.

“We have had to think about what life will be like for him if he will be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. They destroyed his life," said Ojeda.

Coming to grips with this reality has been very hard on this family, especially Gustavo’s parents.

“They sit there and cry and I have nothing to tell them. The mother will not eat at all. All I can do is sit here and do whatever I can do,” said Ojeda.

The Montgomery Police Department has arrested and charged a 15-year-old suspect with first degree assault and shooting into a dwelling. Ojeda says her family still has no peace of mind.

“I feel like for somebody to shoot somebody that way and do the damage that he did, he should get something higher than that. That is not the right charges. We want justice,” said Ojeda.

Ojeda did confirm Gustavo went to school Thursday and they do believe he was skipping class at the time of the shooting. The family does not believe Gustavo knew the suspect. We did reach out to Montgomery Public Schools to see if the suspect is a current student and we have not heard back from them.

As they try to make sense of their situation, they know this: they want the gun violence to stop.

“Somebody has to do something about everything happening,” Ojeda said.

A GoFundMe has been established for the Rosales family.

The Rosales family does not have insurance so they are having to carry the burden of his medical cost alone. They do expect Gustavo to be in the hospital for at least another month or longer.