Highland Park mass shooting victim Cooper Roberts struggles with memory

Cooper Roberts, the 8-year-old boy paralyzed during the Highland Park mass shooting July 4, is experiencing memory loss and has difficulty with fine motor skills, his family said Thursday.

The boy is undergoing a “comprehensive neurological and psychological evaluation,” the Roberts family said in a weekly written update. The boy is rehabilitating after a series of surgeries following injuries from a bullet that severed his spinal cord and badly damaged internal organs.

Last week, his family said the boy was able to eat solid foods and was taken off painkillers. After a period of time in which Cooper was unable to communicate during his recovery, he’s speaking now. Rehabilitation specialists working with him detected the cognitive issues.

“Cooper wasn’t well enough or talking enough to notice these issues earlier while in the hospital,” the family said. “Therapists are seeing short-term memory loss, issues with word recovery and loss of acuity around fine motor skills.”

After initially being treated at a Highland Park hospital, Cooper was airlifted to the University of Chicago’s Comer Children’s Hospital the day of the shooting. He remained in intensive care until the end of July, when he was moved to the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, formerly known as the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago.

“The AbilityLab team is also working with us to think through the long-term needs for Cooper once he is able to go home,” the family said Thursday.

Cooper, his twin brother, Luke, and his mother, Keely, were attending the Fourth of July parade in Highland Park when they were injured during the mass shooting.

Robert E. Crimo III is accused of shooting parade watchers with a military-style rifle from a nearby rooftop that day, killing seven people and injuring many more. He faces multiple counts of murder and many other additional charges.

Keely Roberts has called her son’s survival a miracle.

Friends of the Roberts family have raised more than $2 million through GoFundMe and just raised their fundraising goal again by another $250,000. A separate charitable organization has also been set up to receive corporate donations, according to an August 1 post on GoFundMe.

Brett Chase’s reporting on the environment and public health is made possible by a grant from The Chicago Community Trust.