Greg Rasner is living a parent's worst nightmare. His 17-year-old son, Christian, is in intensive care recovering from brain surgery after two men attacked him outside of Valley Fair Mall in Santa Clara.
Police said the attack was reported at about 8 p.m. Wednesday.
"Two men started following my son and his friends, asked which gang he was affiliated with," Rasner said. "My son is not a gang member, so they said they were not with any gang."
The teens felt threatened so they left the mall toward their car. Rasner said the two older men followed them to the parking lot.
"Hit him twice in the head and knocked him out," Rasner said of his son being attacked.
Paramedics took Christian to the hospital, where a precautionary CAT scan revealed a crack in the back of his head and bleeding on the brain. The teen went straight into emergency surgery.
"It was pretty harrowing as a parent because we were told before he went in for surgery that he may not survive the surgery," Rasner said.
Christian's parents said police told them the beating may have been part of a gang initiation.
Police said the suspects are two Asian males in their mid 20s. The two males were dressed in all black.
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Surveillance video from inside the mall appears to show the suspects, but that footage has not been released.
Rasner wants to know why more security cameras were not covering the busy mall. But for now, he is focused on his son and staying by his side "so that he's loved and cared for."
