Erik Cantu readmitted to hospital after complications from being shot by since-fired police officer

Erik Cantu, the 17-year-old who was shot by a since-fired San Antonio police officer, was back in the hospital recently after experiencing complications from his injuries. The teenager was readmitted to the hospital last week for three days due to issues with his stomach and digestive tract, according to a Dec.3 update posted on the GoFundMe webpage created to raise money for Cantu’s medical bills. “In the wake of all the great news that attributes to our little miracle we find ourselves back in the place that helped him stay with us,” the Cantu family wrote on the GoFundMe page. “Yet again we make our way back home with our hearts in our hand knowing this is not the end, only the beginning to a whole new life. Prayers.”

Cantu spent nearly two months in the hospital after being shot Oct. 2 by police officer James Brennand, who has since been fired, arrested and indicted in connection with the shooting. For much of Cantu’s time in the hospital, his condition was “touch and go” while he recovered from wounds to his liver, diaphragm, bicep, chest and stomach, as well as a bullet lodged near his heart. Body camera video from the night of the shooting showed Brennand approach Cantu’s car as the teen sat in the parking lot outside a McDonald’s restaurant in the 11700 block of Blanco Road. Brennand, who was in the parking lot in response to a disturbance that Cantu was not involved in, spotted Cantu’s car and recognized it as one that had fled from him during an attempted traffic stop the day before. The former officer opened the driver-side door and demanded that the teenager exit the car. The body camera footage shows a shocked Cantu eating a hamburger next to a female in his passenger seat. Cantu drove his vehicle in reverse for several feet, with the still-open car door hitting Brennand’s leg, and then sped forward away from the officer and toward the parking lot exit.