Los Angeles barber shot while cutting hair
Dec 15, 2024
(KTLA) -- A barber is currently hospitalized with serious injuries, unable to walk after he was shot while cutting hair at Prodigy Barbershop in Mission Hills on Wednesday, family members say.
Surveillance video -- which can be viewed on KRON4 sister station KTLA's website -- caught what seems to have been a random attack, showing the victim, Anthony Rotarte, working on a client when a masked man shot through the front door and took off on an electric scooter toward the 405 Freeway.
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Rotarte’s mother, Michelle Moreno, says her son is now completely incapacitated, confined to a hospital bed, and has nerve damage.
“He’s not doing well, he’s not walking and he doesn’t have much feeling from the waist down,” Moreno told KTLA’s Rachel Menitoff. “That bullet ruptured the nerves connected to his spine, so it’s going to be a long road for him. He’s not going to walk for a long time.”
Moreno says her son’s back was facing the front door, and the bullet went through his hip, and everything in that area has been impacted. He doesn’t have much movement in his legs.
Rotarte reportedly does not know the man who attacked him and believes this was random.
His boss, Hashem Pashtoonwar, was present at the time of the shooting and says it all happened quickly. He’s hoping the public can come forward with tips or leads.
“I’m responsible for all these guys going home at the end of the day, and he didn’t go home at the end of that day,” said Pashtoonwar, who owns the barbershop. “So, I take it very personally, and I want something done, you know?”
Moreno believes that the shooter is local to Mission Hills, and says it seems like he knew where he was, and what he was doing.
There is a GoFundMe to help with Anthony’s medical bills and his everyday necessities. His mother says he is a major provider for his family, but he’s currently unable to work.