MILWAUKEE — Kaden Gregory is supposed to be entering his senior year at McEachern High School in a week. Instead, family members said he's fighting for his life in an ICU in Milwaukee after being shot while visiting his father.
Gregory, 17, was shot on July 16 and suffered life-threatening injuries. Family members said the bullet entered his chest, ricocheted through his lungs, fractured his ribs, traveled through his liver and became lodged in his spine.
According to his mother, the ER doctor said things were touch-and-go for a while when Gregory was first brought in. Gregory currently has no movement in his legs.
"He keeps on asking me 'Mama, why can't I feel my legs?'" Kaydene Favors, Gregory's mom, said. "I don't know what to say. It's so sad."
Gregory and another individual were shot while playing video games at Gregory's cousin's house, his family said. It was the night before he was supposed to return home to Georgia, according to his mom.
Favors said the person accused in the shooting was caught next day.
On July 17, Milwaukee police responded to another shooting at a gas station and encountered a man wanted for a double shooting that happened on the same date and street that family said Gregory was shot. The man allegedly fired shots toward the officers, so the officers returned fire. He was taken to the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. Milwaukee police would not confirm either way whether the individual is the same one accused of shooting that left Gregory injured. However, Favors said a detective told her that it was the same person.
Gregory's aunt, Simone Edmond, has set up an online fundraiser intended to help cover the costs of his recovery, including a 14+ day ICU stay, physical therapy, home accessibility modifications, travel expenses for medical evacuation to Atlanta and more. More than that, she and Favors want to bring more awareness to the pervasiveness of gun violence and the devastating affects it has on victims and their families.
"It is just so overwhelming that these kids can't just go out and have a good time without somebody getting shot," Favors said.
The online fundraiser has raised over $5,000 of its $100,000 goal in only 24 hours.
"We're all trying to be strong for [Gregory's mom] and for him," Edmond said. "The GoFundMe will help financially, but there's no amount of money that could make this pain go away."
The journey ahead for the teen and his family is unclear. They are grateful he is alive, but grappling with the question of, "Why him?" He can't leave the ICU for at least two weeks, and needs to be stable amid his various injuries before he is medically evacuated back home. If and when he can return to school at McEachern is also unclear. However, this family is not letting the struggle defeat them.
"We're gonna take it day by day," Favors said.
