Photo: Morry Gash/AP Photo
The Milwaukee Brewers are stepping up to the plate and helping an 8-year-old boy who wasseriously woundedin theJuly 4 mass shootingin Highland Park, Illinois.
The Brewers hung a No. 22 jersey bearing Cooper Roberts' last name in the home dugout at American Family Field during their three-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates this weekend after theylearned through reportingthat he’s a major Brewers fan.
Brewers manager Craig Counsell said Friday that he hoped the team’s gesture “can make one part of the day for [Cooper and the Roberts family] a little bit better,” in the wake of the shooting, which left Cooper with a severed spinal cord after he was shot in the chest.
An update to the family’sGoFundMepage Sunday said Roberts is “in a great deal of pain” both physically and emotionally as his family shared with him that he is paralyzed from the waist down.
“We want to show support for him and his family and the incredibly difficult times that they are facing,” Counsell added, according to MLB.com. “Know that we’re happy he’s a Brewer fan, and we want to recognize that and let their family know that we are thinking about them.”
“Today, Cooper’s in the dugout with us,” the Brewers saidon Twitterprior to Friday’s game against the Pirates as they shared a photo of his jersey in the dugout. “We’re cheering you on, Cooper!”
Patrick McDermott/Getty
The team is also busy working on other initiatives to support Cooper and his family as he focuses on his recovery, they added.
“The strength to go through something like that” for the Roberts family is “unimaginable,” Counsell told MLB.com.
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“At this point [Cooper’s] critical, life-threatening injuries had been addressed and he was stable enough to be transferred to University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital for continued care,” read an update from doctors at Highland Park Hospital on the page.
Anthony Loizzi, a spokesperson for the Roberts family, toldNBC Newson Thursday that Cooper loves the Brewers and called sports the boy’s passion.
“Every time I talk to his mom about him he’s always very active, way into sports, loves baseball,” he said.
Seven people were killed in the Highland Park shooting, with more than two dozen others injured. Last Tuesday, the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Officefiled seven first-degree murder chargesagainst the suspect, Robert E. Crimo, III, 21, callingthe massacrea “pre-mediated and calculated attack” in a statement.
Additional charges are likely, prosecutors say. If convicted, the suspect faces a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole.
source: people.com
