SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A Sacramento mother says her son has a 1% chance of ever walking again after he was allegedly shot by two men thinking he was a rival gang member.
The shooting happened Sept. 8 around 10:30 p.m. in the 5300 block of Gordon Drive near Stockton Boulevard. Officials say 17 shots were fired at three men, all cousins.
One man died and two more were hospitalized with serious injuries.
“You see it all the time and it's always heartbreaking. But when it happens to you, it's just totally different,” said Lisa Martinez, mother of victim Johnny Martinez.
She says the road to recovery is going to be long for her 28-year-old son as he deals with a spinal cord injury, paralyzing him from the waist down.
“It's usually around this time when he starts getting really, really agitated and angry, and the ‘why me?’ and ‘what did I do?’ and that kind of stuff,” she said. “It's really hard. Nights are really hard for him. Hard for me. Hard for all of us.”
The family says Johnny and another family member were helping their cousin Isaiah “Zay” Vazquez move into a south Sacramento home.
“My son and my nephews, they're just good kids. They were such good kids,” said Lisa.
Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office officials say two known gang members shot at the three family members, mistaking them for rival gang members but actually being innocent bystanders.
Fernando Zambrano and Luis Camarillo were arrested on suspicion of the shooting.
“We couldn’t have done this without the community. A lot of gang related crimes go unreported and people are afraid to talk to us. But when they do cooperate, it makes our job a lot easier,” said Lizardo Guzman, detective for the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office Homicide Bureau.
As the family tries to heal from the tragedy, they had their car stolen and found after being stripped of essential parts.
The family is now struggling with the medical costs and need to make their home wheelchair accessible.
“I have to build ramps, I have to knock down walls, I have to build a bathroom that he's going to be able to use with his wheelchair,” said Lisa.
The family is trying to stay strong and remain a steady support system for Johnny and their other family members, trying to look on the bright side.
“I believe that something good is going to happen out of this, somewhere down the line, something good is going to happen from something so tragic,” said Lisa. “I do believe my son is going to walk again.”
The family’s GoFundMe can be found HERE.
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