Chicago Highland Park 8-year-old victim Cooper Roberts faces setback

The 8-year-old Highland Park parade shooting victim left paralyzed from the awful attack faced a setback Tuesday on his road to recovery, according to reports.

Youngster Cooper Roberts was in critical condition again Tuesday after he was improving slightly a few days earlier, a family spokesperson said, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. His spinal cord was severed by a bullet allegedly fired by Robert “Bobby” Crimo III during the 4th of July celebration.

A family spokesperson said Roberts underwent another complex surgery Tuesday to repair his torn esophagus that reopened, the newspaper reported. Later in the day, the family said doctors were able to find and close the leak during the young boy’s seventh surgery since he was shot.

“This is a good outcome-Cooper is still fighting! His condition is being closely monitored and the next days will be critical to ensure that he responds positively,” the boy’s family reportedly said through their spokesperson.

Cooper also has a partially collapsed lung, as well as a spiking fever and elevated heart rate from an infection that can be treated with medication, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

The boy’s mother, Keely Roberts and Cooper’s twin brother Luke were both injured in the shooting. Keely, a school superintendent in a Chicago suburb, was shot in the leg and foot and needed to undergo surgeries while Luke was hit with shrapnel.

Originally, it was believed Cooper Roberts was shot through the chest, but a later update from the family said he was hit in the stomach, according to ABC 7 Chicago, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down that a family spokesperson confirmed Thursday.

“The bullet entered his upper abdomen, injuring the left lobe of his liver, his esophagus near the stomach, his abdominal aorta and exited through his back injuring his spinal cord,” doctors at Highland Park Hospital said, ABC 7 reported.

Last week his condition was upgraded to serious after he was in critical condition. On Friday he was conscious for the first time since the mass shooting and asking to see brother Luke and his dog, ABC 7 Chicago reported.

A GoFundMe fundraiser for the Roberts family has raised more than $1.4 million.

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