San Jose special education teacher recovering after being wounded in gang-related shooting

SAN JOSE, Calif. - A special education teacher in San Jose is recovering after being shot during what police say was a gang-related shooting. It happened at a restaurant in Santa Cruz two weeks ago, and now he’s talking about how grateful he is to have survived.

Richard Brookes has been teaching students with disabilities for two decades in San Jose's Franklin-McKinley School District, but after surviving a shooting, he’s now talking about the things he’s learned since then.

"I was just talking to my friends about some friends who had passed on and how that taught us to just enjoy every moment of life. Then I felt an excruciating pain in my back," said Brookes.

Richard Brookes says celebrating Thanksgiving last week held a different meaning for him after he was randomly shot just two weeks earlier. Brookes says he and a group of friends had gone surfing on November 15th and later gathered at Parish Publick House in Santa Cruz. Then, as he stood talking with friends just after 8 p.m., gunshots rang out.  

"I asked a friend to look. I think I was just in denial. I thought maybe something just grazed me, but then I could tell when he looked at my back that it was bad," said Brookes.   

Brookes says he was transported to San Jose’s Valley Medical Center where he spent four days. He says he can still walk and uses this walker for assistance, but the bullet is still lodged in his back. He says he’d just reunited with his friend Merrill Roberts after 20 years, when they were both wounded during the shooting. Elizabeth, Richard’s wife and mom to their 11-year-old daughter, says she tried to stay calm when she heard about the shooting.

"There had been a shooting and that the people that had been involved were o.k. Since I’m a nurse, I trusted the emergency room nurse was telling me the truth and I put my confidence in that." 

A week after the shooting, Santa Cruz Police say they arrested 20-year-old Esdras Plascencia and a 16-year-old juvenile in connection with the shooting. Both are facing charges of attempted murder. 

"You know being a teacher, when I first heard about a 16-year-old being involved, that’s really close to the age of students I work with a lot in education. I really just felt like I wanted to tell him to go do his homework, do his schoolwork. Do the things he needs to do right now so he can be happy now and in the future," said Brookes. 

Brookes says he never thought something like this would happen to him, and he’d like to see something done about the level of violence in our country so that people can be safe. The Brookes also say Parish Publick House in Santa Cruz is hosting a fundraiser on December 6th with live music and 20% of all proceeds going to the victims.

The Brookes have also set up a GoFundMe account for medical expenses.