DENVER — A Denver father is now fighting to walk again, after he was shot four times by a teen outside his son's school, Rocky Mountain Prep.
Duran had just picked up his 9-year-old son when he saw a 15-year-old boy chasing another child with a gun.
"I approached him rolled down my window and said, 'Hey, man, do you have a gun?'" said Angelo Duran.
Duran then chased the teen into a Pizza Hut parking lot. When he attempted to ask the boy to hand over the gun, he was shot.
Duran suffered injuries to his bladder, spleen, lung and spine. He collapsed to the ground, unable to walk and called 911 from his Apple watch.
"When he shot me, the first thing I did was try to spring my body back up to keep chasing," said Duran. "But only the top half of my body worked.”
After receiving emergency treatment, Duran woke up in the hospital, where he found out he was paralyzed from the waist down. Despite losing the ability to walk, Duran said he was glad to step in and try to keep his child's school safe.
"The one thing that was in my heart was, 'I need to protect the children, even if they're not my children,'" he said.
Since the incident, the shooter was arrested and is now charged with attempted murder. However, Duran said that he plans to ask the judge for leniency in the case, saying he's forgiven his shooter.
He cites his faith in God as the reason to ask for a lesser sentence.
"I don't see him as my enemy, he's not the person that took my legs from me," said Duran. "He has his own identity and he isn't a murderer."
Duran said he's hopeful he'll walk again and is considering options like stem cell therapy to help in his recovery. A GoFundMe has been set up to help pay for his medical expenses.
