Daquan says Zachaeus has had two different surgeries to repair the damage to his eye and head, including replacing bone fragments that were displaced in the shooting (Photo credit: Daquan Waters)

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ASHEVILLE, N.C. — A 3-year-old boy is out of treatment and into rehab after a shooting last month that killed his pregnant mother and left him without an eye, according to WLOS.

Doctors at a Charlotte hospital say Zachaeus Waters is making a “miracle recovery” according to his father, Daquan Waters. He has been taken off of all breathing tubes and IVs, and is now only using a feeding tube to help him eat.

Daquan says Zachaeus has had two different surgeries to repair the damage to his eye and head, including replacing bone fragments that were displaced in the shooting.

Zachaeus was shot on the left side of his face on May 11 — the night of his 3rd birthday. His mother, 23-year-old Candace Pickens, was also shot multiple times in the face, but did not survive.

Police have charged Nathaniel Dixon with her murder and the attempted murder of Zachaeus. Pickens’ family said she was pregnant with Dixon’s child, and that he killed her when she refused to get an abortion.

Zachaeus was found clinging to life next to his dead mother on the morning of May 12, when a jogger running by Jones Park in North Asheville saw the pair lying next to Ira B. Jones School Road.

Read full story: WLOS

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