5-Year-Old Wounded in Church Massacre Lost Mom and Sisters

A 5-year-old boy who survived the mass shooting at a rural Texas church has lost his mother and two sisters.

Rylan Ward was attending the weekly church service at First Baptist Church with his family in Sutherland Springs, Texas when Devin Patrick Kelley entered and began firing. His mother, Joann, and his two sisters, 5-year-old Brooke Ward and 7-year-old Emily Garza, were killed in the attack. Rylan’s 9-year-old sister survived the shooting after a bullet grazed her glasses.

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The 5-year-old suffered a total of five gunshot wounds, including two in the stomach, two in the leg, and one in the elbow, and underwent surgery at University Hospital in San Antonio, Texas. His uncle told PEOPLE that the family is optimistic that Rylan Ward will make a full recovery but he will have to spend multiple months in the hospital and relearn how to walk.

The shooting at First Baptist Church claimed the lives of 26 people ranging in age from 18 months to 77 years old, including the 14-year-old daughter of Pastor Frank Pomeroy and eight members of the same family. Kelley escaped in a vehicle and, after a brief chase, died from what appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His actions ae thought to be linked to a domestic situation with the suspect’s family, who frequented the church.