Marshall redshirt freshman defensive lineman and former Oakland Mills standout Larry Aaron is paralyzed after being struck by stray gunfire during a New Year’s Eve party in Severn, his mother told The Herald-Dispatch (W.Va.).
Police responded to a shooting Monday morning on Bastille Road, where Melissa Aaron confirmed that her son had been shot in the back. Larry Aaron was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center with non-life-threatening injuries.
“I’m in shock myself,” Melissa Aaron told the newspaper. “I’m just numb. It’s such a freak accident.”
Melissa Aaron told The Herald-Dispatch that her son has no feeling in his legs and that doctors can’t remove the bullet because “they are afraid it could be dangerous and hinder him even more to do so.”
Larry Aaron, back home in Maryland during Marshall’s winter break, went to a party Monday that he and his friends learned of through social media, his father, Larry Aaron Jr., told WBAL-TV. His father said Larry Aaron was standing up against the wall with his girlfriend when an altercation began. Gunfire soon followed, and Larry Aaron Jr. said his son stepped in front of his girlfriend to shield her when the bullet struck him.
Police said a 17-year-old boy also was shot in the arm and was treated for a non-life-threatening injury. The investigation into the shootings is ongoing, and anyone with information is asked to call police at 410-222-6155 or the 24-hour tip line at 410-222-4700.
Aaron played in eight games for the Thundering Herd this past season, making 13 tackles, including one in the team’s New Mexico Bowl victory last month over Colorado State. Marshall coach Doc Holliday offered his condolences in a tweet Tuesday.
A GoFundMe page has been started to cover medical and living expenses for Aaron.
