SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – The most seriously injured student in the mass shooting at Michigan State University on Feb. 13 was paralyzed from the chest down and stayed in ICU for several days, while he also received donations from Syracuse communities.
John Hao, the critically wounded Chinese student, was shot in the back and the bullet severed Hao’s spinal cord and injured his lungs, according to a donation link his roommate Argent Qian sent out on Feb. 18.
Many Chinese students at Syracuse University have forwarded this message on WeChat Moment and donated to Hao, including his high school friend, Xiaoti Wu, a sophomore student at SU.
Wu said when he firstly found out, he searched relevant news about the incident, as he couldn’t believe that such a thing could happen to his friend.
“I contact some friends who is in the Syracuse University too, I don’t have much friends, so there are only like two or three people. We want to have contact with his parents, but we failed, because his parents maybe taking hard time with their child,” Wu said. “We also contacted our high school teacher, but they also don’t know much about it, so all we can do is the donation.”
Hao’s roommate also mentioned in the donation link that Hao’s family who was already in a large amount of debt came to the United States because of the incident. They don’t have any income and also face a dilemma–they don’t know how to speak English, so the money from the donation will be helpful to support his family.
Hao is also an active sports enthusiast who always goes to the home games of the Detroit Pistons. Baixuan Li, Hao’s friend who played soccer with him every week at MSU, said he was very surprised about Hao’s situation.
“We just played soccer last weekend so I was very shocked that he was shot and got these serious injuries,” Li said. “He wants to organize a match in the March, but he can’t complete this anymore.”
Li also said the gunman has no apparent connection to the campus, but some MSU students discussed that this shooter had applied for a job at MSU and was rejected. MSU students received many emails about campus safety and also resources for mental support, but Li said some students still chose to go home after this shooting or have remote classes.
Wu said Hao posted an update on WeChat moment on Tuesday, and he was out of ICU and would be working hard on his rehabilitation in the coming days.
