5-Year-Old Goes Home A Hero

After more than five weeks in the hospital, 5-year-old Benjamin Kadish, the most critically injured victim of last month's Jewish Community Center shooting, went home a hero.

Benjamin was shot three times and almost bled to death. And though he still can't walk, his family says they have reason to be thankful, reports CBS News Correspondent Sandra Hughes.

"We would like to thank the paramedics who responded on that tragic day in August," said Benjamin's mother, Eleanor Kadish. "They essentially saved Benjamin's life."

The day turned tragic when police say avowed racist Buford Furrow walked into Benjamin's day camp and started shooting.

Furrow faces attempted-murder charges in that attack and is charged with the murder of a Filipino-American postman the same day.

The paramedics who found young Benjamin decided he was so close to death he should be driven to the nearest trauma center instead of airlifting him to a children's hospital.

AP
Benjamin rides home in style, courtesy of the L.A. Fire Department.

A sparkle helped along by the Los Angeles Fire Department's offer to give the youngest victim of the JCC shooting and his family a hero's homecoming aboard a fire engine.

For weeks, Benjamin was immobilized with pins in his leg to hold his shattered femur in place. His parents could barely talk about his painful recovery.

"You just appreciate every minute you have with your children," said his father, Charles Kadish, "because you never know what could happen when you say goodbye to them in the morning."

Benjamin still faces at least two more surgeries and months of physical therapy. But his doctors expect a full recovery and say his ordeal will someday be just a painful memory.