SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) – A San Jose teacher says he was eating dinner at a bar in Santa Cruz when he was shot in the back.
Richard Brookes was at Valley Medical Center for four days after surviving a gang-related shooting in Santa Cruz. He doesn’t know how long it will take to recover but is thankful to be alive.
“I just kept wiggling my fingers and toes and that made me a lot more comfortable,” Brookes said of the shooting.
On Nov. 22, he was lying on the floor of a bar in Santa Cruz after he and a friend were shot by stray bullets. He says he thought he would be dead or paralyzed.
“I went over to help my friend but I collapsed. It was too painful to deny there was something wrong. When he looked at my back there was going to be some problems, and that was a little scary,” Brookes said.
After four days at the hospital, Brookes came home to his wife, daughter, and their dog, Muffins. But he still faces a long road to recovery.
He needs a walker to get around and he may need surgery because his bullet wound is starting to become infected.
The day he was shot, Brookes says he and his longtime friends went surfing in the morning and reminisced about their lives and future plans.
“I’m looking at the positive aspects of humanity. It’s so dangerous to shoot into a crowd of people,” he said.
And while he is grateful, Brooks still grapples with how close he was to losing his life.
“I just wanted to call my wife and my daughter and comfort them,” he said. “I kind of worried they would hear the news and be afraid, but I just wanted to talk to them.”
His family has set up a GoFundMe to help with his healing. Now his goal is to keep the friend reunions going and eventually get back out on the water.
Parish Publick House in Santa Cruz will have a benefit for Brookes and his friend on Friday from 8-10 p.m. Twenty percent of all proceeds will go toward their recovery.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
