TRUMBULL COUNTY Pellet gun victim has surgery, is recovering

The pellet punctured a lung and lodged near his heart.
By SHERRI L. SHAULIS
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
NILES -- An 18-year-old city man was expected to be released from the hospital early this week after undergoing open-heart surgery because he was shot with a pellet gun.
Eric J. Cassidy of Lawnview Avenue was shot in the chest Wednesday night by a 15-year-old male neighbor while he was at the neighbor's home. Christina Cassidy, Eric's mother, said the pellet punctured his chest and lodged in the membrane surrounding his heart.
"A pinch more and he would have been dead," she said. "The pellet traveled on a downslope and went straight through."
Collapsed lung
Cassidy was taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center in Youngstown that night for his injuries, which included a collapsed lung, his mother said.
"They put a tube in to inflate his lung, and thought the pellet was still in his lung," she said. "They looked, but they couldn't find it, so they had to open up his chest."
Niles police Capt. Charles Wilson said authorities are still investigating whether the shooting was intentional or accidental. No charges have been filed.
Police are still releasing few details, citing the ongoing investigation. A copy of the police report filed that night simply said that Cassidy was at the neighbor's home and was shot at close range.
Cassidy's mother said her son was listed in serious condition as of Monday, but doctors planned to release him later that day or today.
"They said he will still be in a lot of pain and will need some therapy, but because he's so young they think he will recover pretty quickly," she said.
Hard on mother
She noted the shooting has been rather harrowing on her family.
"I've just spent days traveling to the hospital twice a day to visit Eric, and then trying to take care of my 72-year-old father," she said.
Cassidy said she cares for her father -- who suffers from circulatory problems and was recently hospitalized himself for pneumonia -- at home, and also cares for Eric, who has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. She also has a 16-year-old daughter at home, and a mother in a nursing home.
"It's really been kind of hectic," she said.
slshaulis@vindy.com