Jason Miller, Randomly Shot While Leaving Work In Minneapolis, Faces Long Road To Recovery

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- He survived a random shooting in Minneapolis early Sunday morning. Now, Jason Miller and his family are waiting to see if he will ever walk again.

"I think he was excited to live in Uptown and then get a new job in Uptown," said Scott Miller, Jason's brother.

Scott says his brother was walking home from that new job as a waiter at Red Dragon when his life changed in an instant.

"He never saw what happened. He heard some shots and then realized that he had been hit," Scott said.

Officers found Jason near West 22nd Street and Lyndale Avenue South, and they also found another man who was shot in the area. Police cared for both of them until they could get them off to the hospital.

Incredibly, Jason was conscious through it all until he went into surgery. But his brother, a nurse, knows how lucky he truly was.

"He could be dead. You know, a quarter inch in one direction, he could be dead," Scott said.

A body brace helps Jason sit up to eat. He'll spend more time in the ICU and may need more surgeries. Doctors say a full recovery is possible, but it's too soon to tell.

"Will he be able to walk? I mean, that's really the big question," Scott said. "Regardless of what the recovery is, we're talking weeks or months."

Jason was one of eight people shot in Minneapolis within roughly 10 hours last weekend. But Scott says despite this tragedy, his family wants us all to have compassion for others.

"I know there are people that would even use something like this as an excuse to demonize this group or this group or this group, and that's the last thing Jason would want," Scott said. "That's the last thing anyone in my family would want."

Police say they're recovering an average of three guns a day off the streets. That's slightly less than last year, but with fewer resources.

No arrests have been made in this case. A GoFundMe page has been set up to help with medical expenses.