Teen paralyzed after being shot shows encouraging signs

With a bit of movement, a critically injured Vancouver teen is showing some signs of improvement, his father said Saturday.

Daniel Thurston, 19, wparalyzed after being shot in the neck Tuesday, remained in critical condition Saturday at Southwest Washington Medical Center.

“There is some improvement,” Skip Thurston said by phone from his son’s hospital room. “There is a little motion in his left arm and hand, and the nurse said his right hand moved a little.”

Daniel Thurston has been breathing with the assistance of a ventilator, and that aspect of his care also has produced some encouraging signs. His ventilator was set at a pace of 14 breaths per minute, and he has started to exceed that, his father said.

“He’s doing some spontaneous breathing,” Skip Thurston said.

Daniel Thurston was injured Tuesday night in Hazel Dell. Deputies found him on the ground, unable to speak, with a bullet wound in his throat.

Damian R. Grover, 17, of Vancouver was arrested on suspicion of first-degree attempted murder and first-degree robbery.