As he sits in his Pikesville home paralyzed from the chest down, Herve Massaba says he feels no ill will toward the men who robbed and shot him, leaving the college student to die on the side of the road.

“What happened has already happened,” says Massaba, 24, an African immigrant. “I always liked to be independent. Now I have to get help from everybody. But I?m doing fine. I?m not desperate or anything. It?s a miracle that I?m alive. Many people die from injuries less than mine.”