After spending months in the hospital recovering from multiple gunshot wounds, Dakotah Early is "coming home soon," according to a social media post shared Saturday by his mother, Joy Dobbs.
Early was shot on the street in Lincoln Park while being robbed of his cellphone May 6. He struggled with a gunman who knocked him down and fired at least three times.
Earley had a part of his leg amputated and also had surgery to close up his abdomen. He left the intensive care unit at Illinois Masonic Medical Center in July.
Feeling out of the loop? We'll catch you up on the Chicago news you need to know. Sign up for the weekly Chicago Catch-Up newsletter here.
In May, Dobbs spoke publicly about her son and thanked the person who tended to her son while waiting for an ambulance to arrive.
Tyshon Brownlee, 19, has been charged in the attack on Earley and in four other armed robberies on the North Side.
Prosectors have said Earley was walking on a sidewalk near the corner of Webster and Wayne avenues when Brownlee stepped out from behind a building, pointed a gun and demanded his cellphone and passcode.
Local
The 9 mm handgun Brownlee was holding went off as they struggled and Earley tried to defend himself, police said. Brownlee then stood over Earley and shot him again, paused, and shot him a third time.
The experience has been “extremely hard” emotionally, Dobbs said.
“Pretty much the whole world watched my son get gunned down. I can only imagine what he’s going through and what he remembers,” she said.
Family and friends have helped Dobbs and her son in the recovery.
“Someone reminded me that self-love helps me continue to take care of him. Sometimes I forget that because I’m on autopilot, making sure he has everything he needs,” she said. “He’s just the most amazing person I know right now. He’s fighting so hard.
“From all the tragedy, there’s still some really good people in Chicago,” Dobbs said.
“Sometimes people send him cookbooks and cards and he makes a face like he can’t believe it,” she said. Early had been studying to become a chef.
“He’s the kind of kid who doesn’t want attention,” his mother said. “But he has all of Chicago’s attention right now.”
