Schoolteacher Shot in Head Breathing Without Ventilator

Six days after he was shot in the head at Figueroa Street Elementary School in South-Central Los Angeles, teacher Alfredo Perez took a giant step toward recovery Wednesday when doctors disconnected the ventilator that breathed for him.

“He is breathing spontaneously and his vital signs are stable,� said Dr. George Locke, chairman of neurosurgery at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center in Willowbrook.

Locke said it was a sign of “some small progress� that the 30-year-old was breathing spontaneously. And though currently paralyzed on the left side of his body, Perez was able to move his right arm and leg and open his eyes.

In spite of Perez’s improvement, which doctors have described as remarkable, Locke emphasized that Perez remained “in a comatose state� and that his condition was critical.