Four-year-old shot during drive-by shooting now out of the ICU

SAN ANTONIO – A four-year-old shot during a drive-by shooting is making progress after doctors told his parents he may never be able to walk again.

Romeo Aguilar was shot in his spinal cord Oct. 24 while he was in the backseat of a car visiting his grandfather’s home on Woodville Drive.

Since the shooting, Rosella Aguilar, his mother, has been by his side in the ICU at University Hospital.

“This past week on this journey has been challenging,” Aguilar said. “I’m constantly thinking, ‘How can I make him comfortable and know that mommy’s here and that things are going to be ok and that everyone trying to help him is his friends and they want him to be better?’”

She said Romeo is terrified from the shooting.

“We work to soothe him and then he starts feeling better and then he’s not afraid of people touching him anymore,” he said.

With love, faith, and a little imagination, Romeo has built up enough strength to be released from the ICU.

“I have this clear tube that looks like a stick and it has glitter in it,” said Aguilar. “When you move it up and down the glitter moves. I tell him that I am Tinker Bell’s friend and that it is pixie dust and it is the magic from the pixie dust that is going to help him. The first time he used it on himself, he said, ‘Look mom, I can move my leg.’ He thinks the pixie dust is working for him so yes, he moved his right leg and then he twitched his left leg.”

She said she has a lot of hope that her son will make it out of this stronger than ever.

“On the bright side of this horrible, horrible tragedy, my Romeo knows and feels like we are going to be ok,” she said. “Honestly he is stronger than me right now.”

The news of Romeo’s recovery has lifted the spirits of residents living along Woodville Drive.

“I just cried and cried over that little boy,” said one neighbor who asked not to be identified. “It is the dumb people acting like that and it is the innocent children that gets hurt.”

She said she was home when the shooting broke out.

“I was outside sitting here and looking around and then I went inside to take a nap and then I started hearing all of this noise. Like a rattling,” she said. “I looked outside to see what happened and then I thought, ‘Oh no, it is a drive-by shooting.’ But then I looked and saw her screaming, ‘He’s been shot! He’s been shot!’ Then I found it was this little beautiful boy and I just sat there and cried because I said why is it always the little innocent children. It is dumb grownups doing things like this. How can you have that kind of hatred in your heart?”

Like many, she said she prayed deeply for Romeo.

“The Lord looks down on us,” she said. “Those little children are his. ‘These are my children he says.’ And he loves them like we love them. He can intervene and I am praying that that little boy can walk again.”

To keep his spirits high, Romeo has had many different visitors like a police officer who gave him a special coin.

“He thinks it is like his special badge to catch the bad guys,” Aguilar laughed.

He has also been visited by his teacher and principal.

The family said they are beyond grateful for everyone and the many prayers they have received on this journey.

“I do believe even if he is not walking out of here it is going to be progress you hear me. I am not going to give up on my little man,” Aguilar said. “I know God has the last say and I know he hears our cries. Everyone around me have been very supportive of prayers and I know he hears every prayer that goes up to him.”

Romeo still has a long road of recovery ahead of him but in the meantime, San Antonio police are still searching for the suspect responsible.

If you have any information that could help in this investigation, you are urged to call SAPD.