Soldier Who Survived Afghan Suicide Bombing Is Shot Twice in Back at His Own Homecoming Party
Daily Mail (London), December 25, 2011
A U.S. Army soldier who survived a suicide bombing while serving in Afghanistan was hospitalized Friday after being shot at his homecoming party.
Family members tell the San Bernardino Sun that 22-year-old Christopher Sullivan was rushed to the hospital in critical condition.
‘My son didn’t deserve this. He served his country,’ his mother Suzanne Sullivan told the Sun.
She said her son suffered two gunshot wounds to his back, which shattered his spine, leaving him paralyzed, the Associated Press reports.
Sullivan was shot Friday night at a party that friends threw for him at a home in San Bernardino.
Police said Sullivan’s brother and a partygoer got into an argument.
When Sullivan moved to break up the fight, the man pulled a gun and opened fire at Sullivan.
The gunman fled the scene before police arrived.
Sullivan was wounded in a suicide bombing attack last year in Kandahar while serving with the 101st Infantry Division.
He suffered a cracked collar bone and brain damage in the attack and has been recovering in Kentucky where he is stationed.
He was home on leave when the shooting occurred.
His enlistment would be complete in April, after which Sullivan had planned to come home to go to college.
Family members are calling on the shooter to surrender.
Police have not identified the suspect.