Youngest Highland Park parade shooting victim may be paralyzed

HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. - An 8-year-old boy is still in critical condition after he was shot at the 4h of July Highland Park parade Monday morning.

Cooper Roberts is the youngest known victim of the mass shooting.

Cooper's mother, Keely Roberts, is an elementary school superintendent in Zion. She, Cooper and his twin brother Luke were all shot while attending the parade.

Keely was seriously injured — struck twice in the leg and foot — but a spokesperson for the family says she will recover. Luke, who was hit by shrapnel, was treated and released from the hospital.

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Cooper was shot in the chest and suffered a severed spinal cord, according to a family spokesperson.

"It's going to be a new normal for him going forward," said family spokesperson Anthony Loizzi. "They're not sure, due to the severed spinal cord, whether he will be able to walk again in the future."

Immediately after the shooting, Cooper was Life Flighted to Comer Children's Hospital in Chicago where he's now on a ventilator after undergoing multiple surgeries.

Cooper is baseball fanatic, a fan of the Brewers, and a ballplayer himself. Although his mother was also wounded in the shooting, she remains at Cooper's bedside as he recovers.

"Quite frankly, she probably should not have been discharged," said Loizzi. "But she insisted on it so that she could be by her son's side."

A fundraising campaign has been launched for the Roberts family to cover Cooper's medical expenses, ongoing treatment and therapy in what is expected to be a long recovery.

"We just ask you to keep the Roberts family and all those impacted by this tragedy in your thoughts and prayers," said Loizzi.