The boy who remained paralyzed from the waist down after being shot by a man while taking piano lessons, has showed an incredible progress in physical therapy and is going to be released from Children’s Hospital Oakland in a week or two, one of his doctors said Thursday.

The 10-year-old Christopher Rodriguez was accidentally hit by a bullet on January 10, fired in a gas station robbery across the street from the Harmony Road Music School on Piedmont Avenue, where Christopher was taking piano lessons.  

The bullet penetrated Christopher’s abdomen, crossed through his spleen, kidney and spine before lodging in his side, said Dr. James Betts, chief of surgery at Children’s Hospital Oakland, where the boy has been treated, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. He also said the boy would be permanently paralyzed.

However, Dr. Jacob Neufeld, head of the pediatric rehabilitation, said that Christopher’s progress is remarkable. He has learnt how to use the wheelchair, and he is in high spirits and anxious to return to school. Christopher is a fifth-grader at Crocker Highlands, a high-performing public elementary school northeast of Lake Merritt.

His mother, Jennifer Rodriguez said: “He looks forward to getting out and getting back to school.”

The police captured the suspect, Jared Adams, 24, who was charged with willful, deliberate and premeditated attempted murder, robbery, evading a police officer, driving recklessly and being an ex-felon in possession of a gun, according to Alameda County Assistant District Attorney Tom Rogers. He pleaded not guilty, but if convicted he faces life prison.

Referring to Adams’ deed, Christopher’s father, Richard Rodriguez, said during the hospital press conference that:  “We don't have any hatred toward anybody. I see it as an accident. ... No one was intentionally trying to shoot my son. But when a person commits a crime of this nature, they have to pay the consequences.”