Justin Schultz has his whole life ahead of him.
But what’s ahead looks a little murkier than it did a few weeks ago.
Schultz, 22-year-old Livonia Stevenson graduate, survived a gunshot wound he sustained Aug. 17 when three men stole his car. He had been leaving his apartment in Southfield to grab some food.
“I saw someone running up with a rifle, and he got like four or five feet away from me,” Schultz said. “He said, ‘Give me them keys.’ That’s verbatim what he said. My mind must have just been in shock, like, this can’t be real.”
He said the next thing he knew was he was shot in the leg, and he threw the car keys toward the trio.
The three assailants almost immediately crashed Justin’s car and fled the scene on foot. Police have two of the men in custody and are working to locate the third as well as a fourth man who showed up later with a getaway car.
“Thankfully, they didn’t take his cell phone,” Paul Schultz, Justin’s father, said. “If they had, he would have bled to death and we’d be planning a funeral instead.”
The gunshot broke Justin Scultz’s right femur, severed his femoral artery and damaged the nerves in his leg. He’s expected to begin inpatient rehabilitation at Michigan Medicine in Ann Arbor soon, but doctors are unsure what his recovery will look like.
“That’s the unknown right now,” Paul Schultz said. “When I did speak to the nerve specialist, they said there’s so much swelling going on right now, his nerves are compressed and there’s been a lot of disruption so it’ll be two to three weeks after the injury that can assess that … Nerve pain will probably be a reality for Justin for the rest of his life.”
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Justin Schultz, a senior at Oakland University in Rochester studying finance, said he’s focusing on regaining function of his leg and, consequently, his independence.
“My first goal for my leg is just being able to get out of bed and being able to use the walker independently,” he said. “Right now, I can barely lift my leg. It’s being able to get up and take a few steps on my own and do basic, everyday things like go to the sink and brush my teeth.”
The family is hoping to raise $55,000 through a GoFundMe titled “Justin’s road to healing.” Paul Schultz said the biggest concern is medical expenses, because the family’s insurance isn’t covering many parts of the rehabilitation. He said his son’s apartment rent, vehicle recovery, potential car repairs and other unforeseen costs related to the incident are also looming.
“I can just imagine what’s coming down the road,” Schultz said. “He’s got enough to worry about without finances.”
Though Justin Schultz has ventured outside Livonia for college, his family still lives there. While at Stevenson, he played on the varsity soccer team for three years, spent his senior year as soccer captain and was involved in academic clubs like DECA and National Honors Society.
He took a hefty number of Advanced Placement courses, too, and joked that he’s always been a bit of a “try hard” when it comes to school.
Justin Schultz said he’d like to be back at Oakland in time for the winter semester so he can wrap up his degree and, he hopes, work alongside his father as a financial adviser.
“I want to go back to school and start working again,” he said.
Contact reporter Shelby Tankersley at stankersle@hometownlife.com or 248-305-0448. Follow her on Twitter @shelby_tankk.