Ricochet? Or Concatenation?

Once again an event happened in real life is proven to be stranger than fiction, more like a movie. Just one gunshot but there were 2 victims, both hit and one of them in very grave condition. Had it not been for the seriousness of the matter with one of the people still in the ICU, what led up to the outcome could almost be a plot in a black comedy.

A little after midnight last Saturday or, at the first hour of Sunday, two men were having a heated dispute in the centre of Madrid, in the residential district where there are a few bars. What they were quarrelling about is not yet known, but it ended with one of them giving the other a mighty blow on the face, knocking him onto the ground breaking his jaw.

In pain and furious, the guy down on the ground pulled out a pistol and fired. The bullet shot bypassed the intended target and hit an innocent passer-by happened to be walking there. The bullet went into his left side. Then, amazingly, the same bullet went on to hit, a second later, another man walking nearby, badly injured him on the shoulder.

What baffled the police was that the 1st man hit had not even realized he had been shot, but had quickened his steps to get away from the troubled area when he heard the loud shot. He walked on for about 100 meters then suddenly felt an excruciating pain on his left side, and shocked to realize that he was bleeding. He quickly phoned Emergency. The police and ambulance arrived just before he passed out. After administering 1st aid to stabilise him, they took him to hospital where he was taken to surgery immediately.

The 2nd victim who had previously seen something of the fight but was minding his own business, had also heard the loud shot, realized he had been hit and phoned a friend, who arrived quickly and took him to the same hospital. To his great surprise, he saw the guy in the fight, the one whose jaw was broken, also sitting there in the emergency waiting to be attended. He nudged his friend to inform the hospital staff, who in turn alerted the police, that the shooter was there too in the same hospital. He was arrested 10 minutes later.

It was later explained by the doctors that the bullet had hit the 1st man's left rib, went through the left part of the upper stomach, and continued the track out with great force hitting the 2nd guy on the shoulder. The police had also found out later that the shooter, when arrived at the hospital to have his jaw seen to, had given a false identity. Another crime!

Tags:quarrel,bullet,victims

Current Mood: Awake