Days after shooting, victims recount, recover

Three VCU students and one J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College student were assaulted this past Friday in an attempted robbery on the 300 block of Goshen Street. One student remains at VCU Medical Center recovering from a gunshot wound to the upper torso.

Robbie Berriz, a business administration and guitar performance major, Danielle Canfield, an art foundation major, Brian Hill, a 20-year-old student and Thomas Jackson, a student at J. Sargeant Reynolds, were accosted at about 11:20 p.m. Jackson and Canfield were unharmed, but Berriz and Hill were shot. According to Canfield, Hill is “OK.” Berriz is still in the hospital.

Berriz said he cannot remember any details of the attempted robbery past the moment he was shot. However, he noticed the robber sitting near a bush right before the attack.

“I tried not to pay him much attention, but as I saw him there, I knew something was wrong,” Berriz said.

Jackson said he did not notice the man before the assailant approached them from behind.

“I realized there was someone’s voice that wasn’t with us and I turned around,” Jackson said. “It was a guy with a ski mask, a gun and a book bag.”

According to Berriz, the man said “I’m not f*cking playing,” and ordered them to place their belongings into the book bag.

“I kept on thinking to myself, ‘He has a gun-maybe it’s not loaded. Maybe he’s just going to put it away. Maybe nothing will happen?” Berriz said.

At one point, the would-be robber bent over and Jackson attacked him. Berriz said that was when the gun went off.

“When he looked down, I just grabbed him and kneed him and (I) just started hitting him,” Jackson said. “Then Brian came over and started hitting him too. I ended up in the middle of the street and . (the robber) kept saying, ‘Let me go.’ ”

Jackson said the man managed to escape, so Jackson ran and picked up the gun. All the rounds had been fired.

“(The assailant) started walking back toward me down the sidewalk,” Jackson said. “I just put the gun up to him and he stopped and ran off. That’s when Brian came up to me and was like, ‘I think I got shot.’ ”

Hill was shot in the thigh.

According to Jackson, Hill had no idea he was shot because he was distracted by Berriz’ condition.

“(Hill) was just worried about Robbie. He said immediately when he saw Robbie on the ground, he just stopped fighting,” Jackson said. “He let the guy go and just ran over to Robbie.”

Jackson was unaware anyone was shot because he thought the gun simply went off when it hit the ground.

“I didn’t hear anybody scream,” Jackson said. “I went (temporarily) deaf immediately after (the gun went off) because the gun was right near my head. I couldn’t hear anything.”

Eventually, Jackson looked up and saw the other two students were with Berriz, who was bleeding heavily from a gunshot wound.

“I really thought I was going to die,” Berriz said. “I remember Brian Hill pressing down on the wound, trying to keep the blood in me.”

Berriz’ next memory is waking up in the operation room, where he heard people screaming to do whatever possible to save him.

Berriz said his injured arm, shoulder and neck are still causing him debilitating pain.

“(The bullet) went in through here,” Berriz said, as he pointed at the space between his neck and shoulder. “It blew out two arteries, shattered the collarbone and (affected the radial nerve).”

Berriz said his arm is almost completely paralyzed. Raisa Berriz, his mother, said the damage to the radial nerve is the cause of his paralysis.

“(Robbie’s) got some movement in his shoulder,” Ms. Berriz said. “But he’s still got no movement in his wrist and his fingers.”
Berriz is undergoing physical therapy, which he said is extremely painful.

“They’re just trying to get me to walk around the hospital and move my arms around on a radius,” Berriz said. “I can’t do that yet. It hurts way too much.”

Ms. Berriz said even though Berriz is “doing much better, he’s in extreme pain from nerve damage.” It may take a year to 18 months to get use of his arm back, she said, if it heals naturally.

Dr. Jonathan Isaacs, an orthopedic surgeon treating Berriz, said if the nerve damage does not heal naturally, there are other methods to treat the injury.

“I would say it’s a very guarded prognosis,” Isaacs said. “We may be able to do things to kind of compensate for the nerves.”

Berriz is upset about what happened, but he is optimistic police will arrest the man who attacked him.

“It’s evil. How could anyone do something like that just to get maybe 40 dollars and a couple cell phones?” Berriz said. He speculated his assailant will be sentenced to a minimum of 20 years in prison. “Why would you do that for something so petty?”

A reward of about $5,000 will soon be offered to help police make an arrest, Ms. Berriz said.

“A private reward fund has been set up and an announcement is due to be made if not this weekend, then Monday,” Ms. Berriz said.

Ms. Berriz said this incident is a parent’s “worst nightmare,” but she is optimistic about the situation.

“I believe only good can come out of this evil,” Ms. Berriz said. “(Robbie’s) been given a lot of opportunities with what happened.”