Doctor: Edinburg student partially paralyzed from shooting

McALLEN – A Harwell Middle School student shot Monday while playing basketball outside remains partially paralyzed with a bullet still lodged in his back, his doctor said Friday.

Asking the community to continue praying for their son, Nicholas Tijerina’s parents shared details of the 13-year-old’s recovery and said they have avoided growing angry over the incident at the Edinburg district campus that left one other student hospitalized, as well.

“We just want to make sure that nothing like this happens in the future,” mother Donna Tijerina said, wiping away tears. “(Nicholas) is struggling but getting better.

“When he was in the (emergency) room, he said, ‘Mom, I know I’m hurt (but) when do I get to go back to school?’” she recalled, adding that he asked if he would still get credit for being on the basketball team.

While the school did make Nicholas an honorary member of the team, lead doctor Mark Lieser said it was too soon to tell whether he will be able to regain movement below the waist and play sports again.

Lieser said the single bullet – which investigators believe came from someone shooting in ranchlands surrounding the campus – entered the boy’s body through the right portion of his chest, traveling through and damaging his lung, diaphragm and liver before causing injury to his spinal cord.

The soft tissue of Nicholas’s back currently houses the bullet, Lieser said.

“The bullet is safely away from any vital organs, and there’s no immediate need” to remove it, he added. Nicholas “has been awake and alert and stable the entire time. (Internal) bleeding at this point, it appears, has stopped. He’s in remarkably good spirits, and he had an ice cream sundae for breakfast.”

Ambulances quickly rushed Nicholas and a 14-year-old peer away from Harwell Middle School after both were shot about 4:45 p.m. Monday while trying out for a basketball team at a makeshift court in a parking lot west of the school.

Investigators have yet to determine the origin of the bullets, though they no longer believe hunting played a factor in the incident.

An initial theory led authorities to believe either an illegal immigrant caught poaching to the west of the campus may have accidentally shot the two boys. Police also questioned two men who said they were target shooting to the north of the school.

On Friday, Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Treviño said investigators were expecting the results of ballistics testing to continue their investigative process and charge the person that pulled the trigger if the investigation proves that the act was criminal in nature by intention or recklessness.

“I asked Maj. Joe Rodriguez with the Texas Department of Public Safety to have their lab expedite the analysis of the evidence recovered,” Treviño said. “He said they have made it their top priority and hopefully we can have the result by the later part of next week.”

On Wednesday, Justice of the Peace Charlie Espinoza charged the illegal immigrant, 26-year-old David Guerrero Navarro, with two class A misdemeanors – poaching and criminal trespass – after he confessed to shooting at a javelina on a nearby ranch, which is owned by Juan Jose Avila.

Treviño said his investigators do not believe Navarro was involved in the children’s shooting.

SPIN-OFF PROBE

A day after the shooting, sheriff’s deputies who were combing the areas surrounding the campus for evidence in the case uncovered a marijuana growing and packaging operation, Treviño said. At this point, authorities believe it was not related to the shooting.

The discovered drug operation featured an area used to cultivated marijuana with a sophisticated watering system, a shack with various rolls of cellophane and weight scales, and metal and materials used to manufacture hidden compartments in vehicles.  

Because the case deals with more of a long-term conspiracy investigation rather than a street-level or a smuggling case, Treviño turned the items over to his deputies embedded in a task force with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in order for the case to be handled at the federal level.

Because the investigation of the drug operation is ongoing, additional details were not available.

‘STAY POSITIVE’

“Get Well” gifts and signs — covered with messages scrawled by Nicholas’s teammates — sat on a small table near the family and hospital staff during Friday’s news conference.

One student left a note for “Nicko” that read, “I cried for you even tho you are a pain in the butt … You are gonna get better!”

Nicholas’s mother explained that her son, whose friends often referred to him as “little one,” was an avid athlete, participating on the basketball, football and several other teams at Harwell Middle School.

Tijerina also said the week has been a whirlwind ever since school staff called her about five minutes after the shooting.

“Up until yesterday I don’t think I even breathed,” she said. “I just stay positive for him … I don’t have the energy to be angry.”

As Nicholas’s sister Lauren silently cried next to their father, Misael Tijerina, he took a moment to thank the community for their support.

“I want to thank everybody for their prayers. It made us stronger,” he said. “It’s a difficult situation (and) I don’t wish it on anybody.

“There are really no words to describe it – unbelievable, though.”

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Neal Morton covers education and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at nmorton@themonitor.com and (956) 683-4472.

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Ildefonso Ortiz covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at iortiz@themonitor.com and (956) 683-4437.

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TWITTER
Follow Neal Morton on Twitter: @nealtmorton
Follow Ildefonso Ortiz on Twitter: @ildefonsoortiz

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HOW TO HELP
Anyone interested in contributing to Nicholas's recovery can deposit cash donations to International Bank account number 0923346.