A survivor of last weekend's shooting at a Walmart in El Paso said he and his nephew, the youngest victim in the attack, were shot as they tried to take cover.
Octavio Lizarde said he was standing in line to open a bank account at the Walmart, when he heard the gun shots. As people ran for cover, Lizarde said he grabbed his nephew, Javier Rodriguez, and took him into a manager’s office at the back of the bank.
That is where the two were shot.
"He came, the shooter came, I guess he heard us. He shot him,” Lizarde said. "I did lose my nephew right in front of me. I won't go into details, but it was a horrible image."
Fifteen-year-old Rodriguez died at the scene. Lizarde was shot in his right foot.
On Tuesday afternoon, Lizarde was wheeled into a press conference to talk about the incident. The 23-year-old underscored his injury.
"I’m in pain, it hurts," he said. "But this pain will end, the only pain that won't end is the emotional."
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In a Facetime interview with NBC 5's Scott Gordon on Monday, Lizarde said he couldn't stop thinking about his nephew. Rodriguez was a sophomore at Horizon High School just outside El Paso.
"He was like my son, my best friend," he said.
Lizarde will undergo a second surgery in what his doctor, Lt. Colonel Justin Orr said will be a "very long reconstructive process."
"He has a tremendous amount of bone missing from his mid-foot, as well as tremendous damage to his soft tissue," Orr said. "And so today, we will begin the long limb-salvage process for Octavio, to give him the best possible functional outcome long-term."
On Monday, Lizarde said that doctors told him it could be six months to a year before he could walk again.
Lizarde, who works in construction, said he needed to get back to work to support his family.
Five other shooting survivors remain hospitalized with him at Del Sol Medical Center, including one in critical condition. Other victims are hospitalized elsewhere.
