Photo: Raymond Boyd/Getty Images
The gravely injured 5-year-old boythrown from a third-floor balcony at the Mall of Americaat last has emerged from intensive care, nearly four months after the incident that led his adult attacker to besentenced for attempted premeditated murder.
“We are happy to report that our son is no longer in intensive care and has been moved to an in-patient, physical rehab program at another hospital to help him continue to heal and focus on the next phase of his recovery,” his family posted Thursday to aGoFundMe page, where donors have pledged more than $1 million toward the boy’s care.
“There is hard work ahead!,” they wrote. “And, our beautiful boy has endured much already, but he is strong and his spirit remains vibrant. We continue to be eternally grateful for every prayer, every act of kindness and the love this world has show us throughout this journey.”
Mall of America.Raymond Boyd/Getty Images
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Last month, the parents shared the full extent of the boy’s injuries for the first time.
“Up until now we have let our hopes govern what we have revealed to the public,” they wrote in a GoFundMe update. “However, the injuries and severe complications have now resulted in more than 15 separate medical procedures or surgeries, including surgeries for two broken arms and a broken leg, removal of his spleen, procedures for fluid in his lungs and stomach, as well as for facial and skull fractures; and just this past weekend, he had a stent placed in a vein that runs through his liver because of the serious complications he continues to endure.”
“On what was a normal day for us, a day of fun and playing, a day meant for good, you chose to commit a horrific violent act, an act intended … to kill and destroy,” the father wrote in his statement.
While writing “I wish you could experience the pain and suffering you inflicted on my boy,” the father added, in part: “I do want you to know that I forgive you, because it is what God calls me to do and holding hate only harms me.”
Emmanuel Deshawn Aranda.Bloomington Police Department
The 19-year prison sentence he received was part of a plea agreement reached with prosecutors.
Aranda’s public defender toldKSTPthat Aranda accepted “full responsibility” for his actions.
source: people.com
