Man Paralyzed In Dollar Tree Shooting Looks To The Future
MONTGOMERY, Minn. (WCCO) - The lone survivor of a deadly shooting at a Dollar Tree last month is now living with an injury that has changed his life.
Synquez Davis is paralyzed from the waist down. He was shot twice while inside the Dollar Tree in Burnsville on Nov. 7. Another man, 69-year-old Donald Joseph Hortsch, was killed.
The suspect, Grant David Hendrickson, is currently in jail on several charges including first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder.
Sitting between his brothers-in-law with video games on the big screen TV in their Montgomery apartment, Synquez Davis was enjoying what he considers a normal night. But getting to that familiar spot now has been anything but normal.
Paralyzed and wheelchair bound, Davis' brothers-in-law have to help him get out of the car. They then lift him, step by step, up three flights of stairs.
"It bothers me that one, I can't do for myself. Two, I have to take away from others and what they could be doing," Davis said. "I'm still in the process of accepting that I'm in a chair."
Last month, Davis said he was at the Dollar Tree where investigators said an argument was going on involving Hendrickson and an employee. Investigators said Hendrickson was escorted out of the store but came back in with a gun.
"Both times I looked this man directly in his eyes as he shot me," Davis said.
Hortsch was shot and killed. Davis was shot twice with one of the bullets hitting his spinal cord, leaving him paralyzed. He said he feels some sensation in his legs. Doctors also told him that based on where the bullet hit his spine, there is a 50 percent chance he could walk again someday.
"That's the only thing that hasn't made me kill myself, honestly," he said.
Davis is also finding hope in his loved ones, who are with him during every step of his recovery, which is extremely difficult when you live on the third floor of an apartment with no elevator.
"It's a learning process for me, how much I can move him, where I got to be careful with him," brother-in-law Miguel Flores said.
Davis said having clear communication has helped them all learn how to carefully move him. They help him get out of bed, change clothes, and go to the bathroom. Each step has been emotionally difficult for Davis to grasp, but it's a burden his family is prepared to shoulder with him.
"He's a warrior, he's gonna fight it, he's gonna be able to but there is still some of that where he needs that little motivation to kind of give him a little bit of hope," Flores said.
"We'll be sitting around or whatever joking, and I'll just go quiet and that's where I have to reassure myself like, 'You're a fighter. You came in this world and you got to fight it out,'" Davis said.
Davis and his family are trying to find a more handicap-accessible place to live, but finances are tight, especially with all his medical expenses.
They set up a GoFundMe page hoping to get some donations to help with the move.
