SALEM, Ore. -- A Salem family wants to know who beat up their loved one and why.
“It’s really scary,” said Jazmine Fernandez.
Fernandez is not quite sure what the future holds for her husband the father of their two young boys. He is currently in a medically-induced coma in the ICU at Salem Hospital.
“I want him to make it,” she said. “Not just for me but for our boys because the boys mean everything to him.”
Those are thoughts that had never crossed Fernandez’s mind prior to Saturday night. That is when her husband, Lucio Fernandez, was found badly beaten at Salem’s Hoodview Park.
The 26-year-old was fading in and out of consciousness following what detectives are calling a stranger-on-stranger attack during a walk home.
“They said he got in a fight over a basketball which I don’t think is likely,” said Fernandez.
As Fernandez sits by her husband’s bedside she chooses to think less about the person or people who put him there and more about the person who called for help.
“Whoever did call the paramedics I just want to tell them thank you for not leaving him there because he may not have made it if they didn’t call,” she said.
That call gives Lucio Fernandez a fighting chance and Jazmine Fernandez hope.
“I’m just trying to be strong for him and my boys.”
Lucio Fernandez is the sole provider for his family. The family has started a GoFundMe account to help with medical expenses. You can donate here.