In Tampa, Florida, Connor and Brandon Dietrich, who had previously lived through the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting nearly six years ago, found themselves among the injured in the catastrophic Ybor City crash.

On that fateful Friday evening, the brothers were enjoying time with their longtime friend, Riley Hancock, seated at an outdoor table at Bradley’s on 7th. Suddenly, their evening took a devastating turn when a vehicle struck them.

Though Brandon managed to avoid severe injury, he was initially trapped against a glass wall by the car. Freeing himself, he quickly sprang into action to aid his brother and friend.

“He discovered Connor lying in a pool of blood and initially didn’t recognize the severely injured person as Riley,” their father, Bob, recounted. “Once he realized it was Riley, he immediately took charge of the situation.”

A response Bob said was honed when the brothers were both in class during the 2018 mass shooting in Parkland.

“He’s never opened up to us about that, and I was afraid we were going to have the same kind of an issue with this,” he said. “But surprisingly, you can see it in his eyes, he’s struggling, but he’s talking, which is, that’s the most important thing he can do, so he’s doing remarkably well.”

Connor, a USF graduate, is still hospitalized at St. Joseph’s with severe injuries. 

“He’s got several skull fractures on the left side of his head,” Bob said. “He’s got a broken shoulder, clavicle, a lacerated spleen.”

He said they are waiting on MRI results to find out how his brain was affected by the crash. 

“We just don’t know; I don’t know if I’m going to have my son back,” he said.

As for the driver accused of causing the crash, more felony charges were filed against him on Tuesday. Court records also show his next appearance is on Thursday.

There’s a GoFundMe for Connor’s medical bills and another GoFundMe for Riley Hancock’s medical bills.