Eight-year-old Highland Park victim Cooper Robert’s spinal cord severed

An eight-year-old boy who was shot in the Highland Park parade massacre suffered a severed spinal cord and might never walk again, a family spokesperson said Thursday.

Little Cooper Roberts was one of dozens wounded when alleged gunman Robert “Bobby” Crimo III opened fire on the 4th of July celebration Monday. Two of his family members, mother Keely Roberts and twin brother Luke, were also injured during the mass shooting.

Keely Roberts was shot in the leg and foot area and Luke was hit with shrapnel, the family spokesperson said during a press conference streamed by ABC 7 Chicago.   

Keely Roberts told doctors following her second surgery she needed to be discharged “or she’d walk out on her own because she needed to be with her son.”

“Quite frankly she probably should not have been discharged but she insisted on it so she could be at her son’s side, Cooper, who is at a hospital in (Chicago) with her husband,” the family spokesperson, Anthony Loizzi, said.

The family representative said Cooper Roberts is sedated and on a ventilator in critical, but stable condition. He was airlifted to a Chicago-area children’s hospital.

The family, which lives in Highland Park, also includes four adult daughters.  

“After several surgeries, the little guy is fighting as hard as he can,” part of a GoFundMe post set up for the family said. “We are hopeful that he will be ok, but we know his medical bills will be significant as will the therapy that will follow. Please pray that Cooper will recover as best as possible.”

The charitable efforts have raised more than $200,000 so far.

When asked if Cooper, who loves sports, was paralyzed, Loizzi said he wasn’t sure, “but I believe that is a possibility, I believe that’s their major concern, but I do not have confirmation for that.”

Talking to family members, Loizzi said they’ve told him, “that it’s going to be a new normal for him going forward.

“They’re not sure, due to the severed spinal cord, whether or not he’ll be able to walk again in the future,” he said.

Keely Roberts is a local school superintendent in the Chicago suburban region. She might need another surgery, Loizzi said even though she was released from the hospital Wednesday.

Twin brother Luke wasn’t shot, but was hit with shrapnel to the lower body, according to the family spokesperson. He was released after being treated for injuries.

Seven people were killed and dozens were injured during the awful mass shooting.