DELTA, Colo. — Brian Spencer said he remembers watching his 15-year-old son, Kasen, leave to hang out with friends Friday, May 3. He said his son still has yet to walk back through their doors.
"The police knocked on the door and they asked if I was his father and I said yes," Spencer recalled. "And he said that they had to inform me that he was a gunshot victim."
Delta Police said Kasen had been shot in the head while with a group of other teens in an RV at 1432 Hwy 50, just north of town. The department is still investigating what happened, where the gun came from and who fired it.
"It was just shock the whole way, the whole ride down to the hospital," Kailey Hanak, Kasen's mom, said. "It was just surreal. I, I didn't know what to think. I was, I was just, the blood rushed like from my face. He was driving us down to the hospital and I just couldn't, I couldn't think, like I had no thought, I just, pure panic."
Spencer said his son was first taken to Grand Junction to be treated there.
"He was shot in the back of his head," Spencer said. "So the bullet stopped in his brain and they they did emergency surgery in Grand Junction and removed a piece of his scalp so that his brain could swell and then removed what they could remove. He still has fragments in in his brain."
Kasen was eventually taken to Salt Lake City, UT, to the Primary Children's Hospital. That's where his parents said he's been in and out of sedation for the last week.
"He's done pretty well here and there. And like he's, he's responding to like, 'open your eyes' and he will open his eyes for a couple of seconds," Brian said. "He's squeezed our hand and the doctors a few times."
Just this last weekend, Spencer said Kasen has shown tremendous growth. He is no longer on a ventilator and is able to form short sentences and responses. But, his family said the extent of his injuries are still to be discovered.
"We talk about it all the time," Spencer said. "Like, just, we miss his smile, his laugh, especially his laugh, like he had an amazing and contagious laugh, always smiling and joking, being even a smart***, we witness all of those things."
"Just being a 15-year-old teenager," Hanak added. "It's devastating to think that with the severity of his injury, that might be a thing, we might not hear that ever again. You know, we're hopeful. Each day he's giving us small little signs."
Hanak and Spencer said Kasen had dreams of being an MMA fighter or joining the Marine Corps, like his father had. Those dreams are now uncertain, given his current state, but his parents said he'll dream again.
"That was one of the hardest parts for me, because when his brother went through his backpack, he had a folder, and it said, from marine recruiters, 'how to become a Marine,' and thinking about his injuries, we're figuring he may never, probably won't be able to ever be able to come a Marine or be an MMA fighter," Spencer said.
"He's a strong kid," Hanak said. "And I know that whatever is handed or happens, or whatever it is, I know that he will make the best of it. And he will create new dreams and new goals and find his calling and he'll be amazing at it just like he is everything else."
Delta Police do not have a suspect in custody and couldn't say if one has been identified. Chief Luke Fedler said in an email to 9NEWS, investigators are coming close to a resolution in the case.
Kasen's aunt created a GoFundMe to help support their family while her nephew recovers. In less than 10 days, the fundraiser has raised nearly $19,000.
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