A man accused of shooting and paralyzing a U.S. Army soldier at a homecoming party in his honor surrendered to authorities in California on Monday.
Christopher Sullivan, 22, had just returned home to California from Kentucky where he was stationed while recovering from injuries sustained during a suicide bombing attack in December 2010 while he was in Afghanistan. The San Bernadino County Sun reported that the Army specialist narrowly survived the attack which killed five members of his unit and left Sullivan with a cracked collar bone and brain damage. Sullivan was awarded the Purple Heart after the incident.
Sullivan, 22, was shot at the party in his honor on Friday after an "argument and physical confrontation" with 19-year-old Ruben Ray Jurado, San Bernadino Police Department Sgt. Pete Higgins told CNN.
Accompanied by an attorney, Jurado turned himself in to authorities in Chino Hills early Monday afternoon, said Lt. Gwendolyn Waters. He was then transferred to the custody of San Bernardino police and was to be booked into jail, she said.
Jurado will face charges of attempted murder, police said.
The fight broke out after Jurado and Sullivan's younger brother began arguing about football, his mother, Suzanne Sullivan, told CNN.
"[He] pulled out a gun and shot him twice," she said.
Higgins said Jurado then fled the scene after the shooting.
Suspect Ruben Ray Jurado is wanted by police.
Sullivan was rushed to a hospital where he was being treated, officials said.
"Right now, my son is hanging in physically," Suzanne Sullivan told CNN. "He's on 100% life support. He can move his head and he responds through nodding and blinking to us. His eyes aren't always open but we try to encourage him to do so as often as possible."
She said her son tried to ask what happened to him at the hospital and when they told him he wanted to know "Why?"
"We told him what it was about and he just closed his eyes," Suzanne Sullivan told CNN.
Suzanne Sullivan said she was told the suspect and her son may have gone to school and played football together.
She also said she couldn't believe what had happened to her son, who she said joined the Army to try and help her out.
"He's a wonderful son ... the best person you could meet on this Earth," she said. "He's a giver, not a taker and just wants to be there for and help people. He was so happy when he joined the Army because he really wanted to defend his country."
Sullivan and her family have been at her son's bedside at a local hospital. A fellow soldier from Christopher Sullivan's 101st Airborne Division brought the infantry's flag to the hospital, Suzanne Sullivan told CNN.
"He loved his platoon, he loved his fellow soldiers," she said as she began to sob. "He was so proud to serve our country."
Tears rolled down Christopher Sullivan's face when he saw the flag of the Screaming Eagles, the nicknamed for the division, his mother said.
"I asked Chris if he wanted to me to hang it on the wall or cover him in it," Suzanne Sullivan said. "He nodded that he wanted me to cover him with it. Once I did that he started to cry, which made me start to cry. It's been really hard on all of us."
She said she was distraught over the news that her son, who was already recovering from injuries sustained during his tour abroad, had returned home only to be paralyzed during a party in the U.S.
"He once told me that if defending this country takes his life so be it," she said. "But to see he survived that and now for this to happen to him, just breaks my heart."
Suzanne Sullivan said her family is having a difficult time coming to terms with what happened. They hope the Jurado will turn himself him.
"We just want justice to be done," she said.
Anyone with more information on this case is asked to call Det. Michele Mahan at 909-384-5619 or Sgt. Gary Robertson at 909-384-5663, or call WeTip anonymously at 800-78-CRIME.
– CNN's Carey Bodenheimer and Janelle Griffin contributed to this report.
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Christopher served his country, a hero, and taken down by a worthless individual. He'll be caught, and spend years in prison, but I would give him life in solitary so he can think about only this every day. I hope Christopher can make a complete recovery. To his mom and family, I am sorry you have to go thru this.
song of the week in afghanistan:"how does it feel to treat you like you do to me".a hero?basssssssssssstard and hoooooooooooooooligan who terrorized poor afghans.
Ahh, another great layout from CNN. Whoever posted the picture reversed it horizontally. Notice the locations of all the medals are wrong and his name is spelled backwards on his nametag. Helloooooo!
Larry, that is a photo that was distributed from the family. It is taken through a mirror with an iPhone. We have a policy of not altering the photos that are given to us, so we could not rotate it in the other direction.
The picture was taken in front of a mirror.
LOL on Larry
Very good observation.
its obviosly a picture he took on his blackberry in a mirror. I hope you're a janitor or something
Actually, that picture was taken in the mirror by himself, with the phone he holds in his hand... good eyes though...
Really!!!! Its obvious that he took the picture of himself in the mirror!! HELLOOOOOOO!!!!!
You might notice that he's taking a picture of himself in a mirror. Umm...hellooooooooooooooooooo!! Anyone home Larry?
Really, Larry? Did you not notice the cell phone pointing in the mirror in this self pic?
Take a look at the pic again. He's photographing himself in the mirror...duh!
Larry, if you take a sec and look at the picture, he's taking a picture of himself with his cellphone in a mirror, which would cause it to be reversed, or a MIRROR image
Larry, don't know if you had noticed but Sullivan took this picture with his cell phone camera in front of a mirror...it's going to be backwards.
Larry, was it not completely obvious that he took this himself with the phone he is holding in his hand...AND looking at.
Speedy recovery, soldier! May the piece of trash who shot you spend the rest of his worthless life in the darkest dungeon ever conceived of.
It's a mirror picture Larry. No alteration was done to the photo.
Everything is backwards because it's an image that he took himself, standing in-front of a mirror. Could CNN have flipped it? Sure. But as is, the layout is not manipulated, which seems to be your primary concern.
keep replying to this people, it needs to be at the top so larry knows how stupid he is
Larry the simpleton, the picture is obviously a reflection on the mirror. Notice he is holding a camera?
Sullivan is using his camera phone to take a picture of himself in the mirror, thus the image is reversed.
LOL Larry just got OWNED in the discussion!
He survives a suicide bombing in Afghanistan, only to return home and get shot and paralyzed.
I hope they catch this worthless p.o.s ASAP.
They didn't reverse it...it's a "self-portrait" taken in a mirror.
Larry just got owned.
Actually, it appears he is taking the photo himself.
So, it actually is a mirror view because it's a photo of a mirror.
Hmmnn... It's a picture SPC Sullivan took of himself in a mirror...
Larry, you are an idiot. It is clearly taken with a camera phone in a mirror, so its all backwards to being with. The family probably liked the expression on his face, since perhaps it captures his personality.
Larry, Larry, Larry!!!!!! Omg!!!!! I just can't get over how stupid you are!!!!!
Where I come from we call that sarcasm. Larry, I feel ya bruh
Its obviously a self portrait taken in a mirror....
I like geniuses like you...did you notice that he is taking a picture of himself with a camera phone??? OBTW...he is paralyzed, how about you focus on the real issue.
How about you're an idiot who can't tell this was a mirror pic?
Execute him on a local public access channel.
so screwed up..he had to come back to america to get shot. welcome home troops
Too many guns, too many guns in the wrong hands and this is what happens! Don't give me any lip about guns and it's your god given right to have them! GUNS ARE THE PROBLEM PERIOD
Not agreeing or disagreeing but everything is a weapon. If you take away the guns, they will use knives. If you take away the knives they will use clubs. If you take away the clubs.......etc. etc. etc. Weapon of choice makes no difference if someone is intent on causing harm to another human being. The root of the problem is – well – there isn't one root. We can blame the parents, illegals, immigration, schools, movies, society, guns, politics, democracy, leniency. Pick your poison. We need to stop marginalizing everything and trying to boil it down to one reason. The longer we do this, the furhter we are from trying to ease (not solve) the problem. Thinking you can solve violence is an ignorant assumption because you can pick any century to see how all ethnicities, societies, etc. have treated their fellow human being.
The problem is keeping guns away from lunatic losers who shoot people over arguments about football or some other insane, over the top argument.
Yes because guns shoot themselves. Is it that hard for you to understand that criminals will always have access to weapons? You think the gun this guy had was registered and purchased legally? Wake the hell up.
This is sad that this happened. On the other hand, this is California, this type of senseless violence should be expected from this kind of state. Here is what we can do, we can seal it off 100% and turn it into a Supermax prison. No change since its basically slowly turning into one anyway.
Over a football game... truly, what a bunch of idiots. So sad for Chris Sullivan. Hope they catch that idiot very very soon and prosecute him for the charges quickly. Who in world would brings a gun to a welcome home party?!?!
Dangerous minorities (I wonder who will get the reference).
Wait he shot him over FOOTBALL? I knew hispanics were crazy about it but GOD DAMN!
From what I understood, he was trying to calm the situation between this moron and his younger brother which was over a football topic. People who lack critical thinking are dangerous. So driven by emotion that they decide the best thing to do is pull a trigger. They'll find this guy that's for sure.
A half billion guns in the USA in 2012. A cowboy nation. Expect more and more and more, and more shootings
among 325 million people.
(1) Eliminate ALL guns. (2) Replace with efficient stun guns ONLY. (3) Maybe make guns ONLY licensed to females.
whatever, you chinese troll....
Most of the actual cowboys who herded cattle in the 19th century didn't even have guns, but apparently some people will believe anything Hollywood churns out.
The guy that shot this innocent solider, should not be able to live!!!
what should happen here is once they catch Mr Jurado well they should put a bullet in his! back and paralyze him and see if he likes that.
My goodness. Not even a beast would do that. It breaks my heart just to read this. Regarding the shooter: how much lower can a human being go... He does not even deserve to be called a human being. I hope he gets to suffer really hard on death row.
football may have been the topic, but the real reason is jealousy. Some people just can't handle the hard workers getting the credit they deserve.
Is that why you are bitter, Jack?
I'll bet the argument was Tebow related.
A vet gets shot here and people are worried about a picture. Hanging is to good for the S.O.B. who shot him. Being a former vet myself. I feel for him and his family.