$1M raised for 8-year-old boy paralyzed by stray bullet

More than $1 million has now been raised online for an 8-year-old California boy who was left paralyzed from the neck down by a stray bullet from a highway shootout.

“The amount of money we’ve raised is astonishing,” the family of the boy, only identified as Asa, wrote in an update to their GoFundMe Wednesday.

“We could not be more grateful, humbled or awed by the 8,700 of you who have already supported us here,” they wrote of those who have donated, including one anonymous benefactor who gave $17,000. “Feeling buoyed by your love and support is a gift beyond measure.”

The $1 million raised was more than double the amount sought. The family vowed to donate any extra to groups “working to prevent gun violence or support families whose lives have been impacted by it — as ours have.”

Little Asa had been riding in his family car about 6:30 p.m. July 14 when people in two vehicles opened fire at each other on I-580 near Harrison Street in Oakland, the California Highway Patrol said.

He had just been picked up from camp and they were on their way to dinner with grandparents when the shots rang out, KTVU reported.

A 911 caller “advised that an unrelated vehicle had pulled to the right shoulder near Grand Avenue after being struck by the gunfire,” police said.

“An 8-year-old boy was seated in the vehicle and struck by a bullet that came from one of the two vehicles,” the statement added, saying he was rushed to an area hospital in “grave condition.”

No one has been arrested yet in the shooting that left Asa paralyzed from the neck down and needing a mechanical respirator and feeding tubes.

The family described their boy as a “fighter” whose “body is forever changed” after the errant bullet sent bone fragments into his spine.

“Initially, we had no idea if our sweet boy would live. But he is a fighter, and we have gotten and are getting the best possible medical care,” the initial GoFundMe appeal said.

Now, “Asa is not only alive, but he’s making us laugh, reading his favorite books and requesting songs by Imagine Dragons. His intellect, his spirit, and his love of life are very much intact,” the family wrote.

“We are profoundly relieved that our boy is alive and very much himself, and we are also starting to understand the vast implications of his new reality,” they said. “Moving forward, Asa will require a mechanical respirator to live, tube feeds for nutrition, and 24-hour, around-the-clock nursing care.”

The family said their home will have to be extensively remodeled to accommodate Asa and his needs, including a hospital bed and generators for his breathing apparatus.

He also will require a power wheelchair with sip-and-puff adaptations and a special van to transport him, the family said.

“Even with these key systems and accessibility modifications, Asa will need ongoing support not captured in these lists, including 24-hour nursing care, continuous physical and occupational therapy, mental health support, travel to centers such as Kennedy Krieger in Baltimore, secondary surgeries such as diaphragmatic pacing, etc.,” they said.

“Never in a million years could we have predicted how Asa’s life – and all of our lives — would change so quickly, and completely. We are grieving, grateful and angry,” the loved ones added.

John Torres, associate director of Youth ALIVE!, an Oakland-based organization that works with families affected by gun violence, said his group is in contact with Asa’s parents.

“There is a road ahead that may present a lot of challenges. This is where our intensive support and services do kick in. We help families navigate those systems and search for resources that may be applicable in cases like this,” Torres told ABC 7 News.