Moorpark resident recovering from Tire Pros shooting
By Carissa Marsh Special to the Acorn

Less than a mile from where the Tire Pros shooting took place last month, Albert Ramirez sits in a wheelchair mingling with friends and family outside Simi Valley's Skatelab.

It's a sunny Saturday and the 20-year-old Moorpark resident is anxiously anticipating the start of the concert that's been put together on his behalf.

Ramirez, who's wearing a black baseball cap, a thankful smile and a positive spirit, is out of the hospital for the first time since the shooting, but the only evidence of the suffering he's endured since his neardeath experience is his twowheeled transportation.

On Oct. 9, Robert Becerra, 29, of Simi Valley, shot and killed Susan Sutcliffe, a 53-year-old Simi resident and mother of two, as she sat outside the tire shop on East Los Angeles Avenue.

Becerra then turned his weapon on Ramirez, a Tire Pros employee, shooting him in the stomach, and shop owner Henry John Heeber, 37, shooting him in the arms, before killing himself. Police have still not determined a motive.

Ramirez was rushed to the Simi Valley Hospital to undergo surgery for his life-threatening wound. Ramirez endured two operations, the first on his abdomen, the second on his back.

"I almost died twice during the (first) surgery because my heart rate was dropping so low," Ramirez said.

His second surgery, to remove bone fragments floating in his spinal canal and close a hole leaking cerebral fluid, went more smoothly.

The .40-caliber bullet missed Ramirez's spinal cord by millimeters and his large intestine had to be removed.

"I'm just glad I'm alive. There's nothing much more I can really ask for," Ramirez said. "I'm not paralyzed. I guess you could say God has other plans for me. He let me live."

Ramirez's outlook is such that he's been able to shine a positive light on the terrible experience of being shot without reason.

"It gives me a second chance at life and puts a lot of things in perspective," he said.

Still in the early stages of his recovery, Ramirez is currently undergoing physical therapy at Northridge Hospital. Extending from 9 a.m. to about 4 p.m. each day, his sessions focus on strengthening his legs and upper body- learning, Ramirez said, how to walk all over again.

His glass-half-full attitude serves him well at the hospital.

"I'm making progress every day," Ramirez said. "My legs are getting stronger. I'm not really walking yet. I can stand on my own but my legs get tired rather quickly. They're trying to build up my stamina and endurance. It gives me a lot of hope, keeps me motivated.

"It's a little hard but it gets better every day," he continued. "I have youth on my side so that kind of helps me bounce back a little bit."

Ramirez hopes to be released from the hospital by Christmas, but there's no guarantee he will be out by then.

And while he displays a cheerful disposition in the face of adversity, there's no arguing that the shooting has changed his life.

Just days before the tragedy, Ramirez had signed up to join the United States Navy. Having already passed the required aptitude test, he had only to go to Los Angeles for a physical.

That dream was shattered Oct. 9 by the killer's bullet.

But, said Ramirez, "everything happens for a reason."