A 22-caliber handgun was used to shoot a father of four in the head inside his Peoria County home.
The September 7-th shooting of 53-year-old Joe Pocius paralyzed him on the left side of his body.
Tonight he is speaking out for the first time since that fateful night a bullet shattered the right hemisphere of his brain.
News 25's Syreeta Baker has this story.
For 17 years at 32-21 West Starr Street this is where Joe and his wife Angela Pocius used to celebrate the holidays.
Now the Pocius family has to celebrate from Joe's hospital bed at Manor Care Nursing home in Peoria.
"I keep trying to figure out how I'm going to get things done.
I got rid of my car and we bought a van. But we have to get it handicap accessible," says Angela Pocius.
"I can feel, but I can't move it. I have to learn how to walk again which isn't fun," says Joe Pocius.
Joe Pocius blames three men impersonating police officers for the paralysis on the left side of his body. Antonio Anderson the alleged shooter, Terrance Basset and Anthony Taliaferro the alleged accomplices and Bobby Lewis Short who family members say set up the home invasion.
"I work all my life and now someone wants to take what I have," says Joe Pocius.
Authorities say three of the men broke into the Pocius home looking for drugs and money.
"He was our son's crack dealer," says Joe Pocius.
"I just can't blame him for it. Because then I would have to get angry with him for it and I don't feel like being angry with anybody.
I'm working really hard trying not be angry at these people," says Angela Pocius.
Angela says anger is one thing she doesn't want in her heart as her husband struggles to recover.
She hopes their story will inspire other families to never take each other for granted.
"Be thankful you have your family and your loved ones around you because you never know when it can be cut short."
The four men charged in connection with the Pocius shooting have an expected jury trial date for December 1st.
For those who want to help the Pocius family there is a Joseph Pocius Fund at Associated Bank in Peoria.
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