TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – Less than a year after being critically injured in a shooting, Florida State football player Ethan Pritchard has taken another step forward in his recovery.
In a 16-second video shared to social media Monday by Montrail T. Harris, Pritchard was seen smiling and walking without a walker, taking small steps while occasionally using nearby chairs for support.
“God did it!!! Walk in victory nephew,” Harris wrote on Facebook along with the video.
A day later, Pritchard’s family announced on social media that it was Ethan’s 19th birthday.
The significant milestone comes just 10 months after the FSU freshman linebacker was shot in the head. He and his family came under fire in their Dodge Charger on the night of August 31 at the Havana Heights Apartments.
A week after the shooting transpired, leaving the community in shock, authorities revealed during a press conference that Pritchard had attended a family cookout in Havana and was driving two family members, including a 3-year-old child, home when he was ambushed.
“They were in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Keith Wilmer with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) said during that press conference.
Four people were initially arrested in connection to the shooting, including Germany Atkins, Anthony Glenn, Caron Miller and Jayden Bodison. All of them were ordered not to be released on bond, according to the FDLE.
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However, court records revealed that prosecutors were able to use new technology to enhance surveillance video taken the night the shooting happened.
As a result, attempted murder charges against Bodison were dropped, with court documents saying “it became apparent that Mr.Bodison was misidentified.”
Meanwhile, charges against Atkins were upgraded to include three counts of attempted murder and one count of shooting into an occupied vehicle.
Leading up to footage showing Pritchard walking again without a walker 10 months after the shooting, the FSU football player spent months in the hospital and rehab as he continued to recover from his injury.
FSU’s Ethan Pritchard released from rehab months after being shot in the head(Somolya Pritchard)
A video shared to social media by the Florida State Seminoles Football in April showed him receiving a standing ovation at the Golden Nole Awards when he stunned the crowd by walking across the stage with the help of a walker to accept the Doc Fauls Rise Above Adversity Award.
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