JESSAMINE COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) — A Kentucky mother said she worries her son will end up behind bars or worse if she can’t get him the help she needs for her traumatic brain injury.
Antonio Reese was nine years old in 2015 when he was shot in the head while riding in a vehicle with his family on their way to dinner. Now his mother, Tara Murillo, said he struggles with anger issues and other issues related to his injury. He has joined the wrong crowd and been in and out of juvenile detention centers in recent months, she said.
Murillo has gone to psychiatrists and other mental health experts for help, but all have told her that her son needs specialized help for his traumatic brain injury.
They told him to go to a rehabilitation service provider specifically for people with brain injuries.
Murillo said the provider denied her son multiple times for reasons ranging from insurance to not qualifying for the program.
“The truth is, if I don’t get help for my son, he’s going to end up where his shooter is. He is going to end up in jail,” Murillo said. He has been in and out of the juvenile detention center six times in the last three and a half months. As if my son was going down a dangerous path and no one was helping me.”
Murillo said his son, who is almost 17 years old, is unable to function at his age level due to his injury. She wants to give him a chance to succeed by giving him the tools to deal with the injury.
“He’s about six or seven years old mentally, naive,” Murillo said. “He’s very, very naive and he’s easily taken advantage of because he doesn’t have that ability for his age.”
Murillo said the bullet that hit Antonio in 2015 took out the right side of his brain, along with five brain surgeries. Doctors have said they want him to stay in school until he is 21, Murillo said.
Despite that, Murillo said her son has not been able to qualify for the help he needs.
“I don’t know how many times I’ve sobbed and cried because I’m frustrated, I’m angry, because he’s a victim,” Murillo said.
Murillo said his son’s doctors have told him about the prevalence of people who suffer brain injuries and then end up in jail.
“So where do I go?” Murillo said. “Because pretty soon I’m going to see my son through a mirror all the time. And how unfair is that? Go from the victim to the victimizer.
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