HOUSTON -- A Cypress-Fairbanks volunteer firefighter lost his legs after a vehicle ran into him on Monday afternoon, KPRC Local 2 reported.

Harris County sheriff's deputies said 23-year-old Celio Velasquez, who was driving a stolen car, crashed into Thomas Scott Shuster outside an auto parts store on Aldine Bender Road near the Hardy Toll Road after crossing three lanes of traffic.

Shuster, 26, was loading items into a pickup truck when he was hit. He was taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital in critical condition.

Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department officials said Shuster had been a volunteer for about seven years and worked at the auto parts store full-time.

Firefighters showed up in shifts at the hospital to support Shuster and to make sure he was never left alone.

"It's tough. It's tough. We're not used to seeing this grown man in this condition. This never should have happened," said Capt. Mark Rodriguez with the Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department.

"It's times like this when we really come together and you see the brotherhood, the spirit, everything comes through -- the camaraderie -- that makes us a family and what we are," said David Padovan with the Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department.

Shuster was described as one of the most dependable guys you would ever meet.

"We're going to have to come together as a community and help his parents out, help Thomas out," Rodriguez said.

Investigators said a woman and a baby were also in the stolen car. Velasquez and the woman tried to run with the baby, but witnesses held them down until deputies arrived, officials said.

Velasquez has been charged with intoxication assault with a vehicle. Sgt. Susan Cotter said Velasquez admitted to drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana before the wreck.

A benefit barbecue for Shuster will be held on Sunday from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. at the Cy-Fair Volunteer Department Station 8, FM 529 at Barker Cypress Road.

The donations will help pay medical expenses.