Tuesday, August 10, 2010

New York Man (Angel Alvarez) Shot 21 Times and Lives Breaks Record


They don’t call him Angel for nothing because it just wasn’t his time.

The New York Daily News reports that the gunman who survived at least 21 bullet wounds in a Harlem shootout with cops probably broke a record, a forensic expert said Sunday.

"I would say more than 20 gunshot wounds is a record," said Dr. Vincent DiMaio, 69, a forensic pathologist and author of "Gunshot Wounds: Practical Aspects of Firearms, Ballistics, and Forensic Techniques."

"Of course, the real issue is where you get shot," he added. "One bullet can kill you, but believe it or not, a body can survive a lot of bullet wounds."

Angel Alvarez, 23, shot Luis Soto of the Bronx before falling in a hail of gunfire in a wild shootout with NYPD officers early Sunday, police said.Alvarez's sister, Kimberley Creer, 29, said doctors confirmed they had removed at least 21 slugs from his body.

"That's ridiculous," she said. "In the arms, legs, abdomen, jaw. ... He's doing all right.

He's talking."Alvarez's lawyer, John Carney, put the number of shots at 23, but said his client was "awake and responding.""He had chest and abdomen shots," Carney said.

"It's a miracle. They missed the heart and major arteries."

DiMaio predicted that Alvarez would survive since the bullets missed vital organs and didn't cause excessive bleeding. The risk of infection remained the gunman's biggest hurdle."Listen, if you make it to the hospital and you can talk, 99% of the time, you'll make it," DiMaio said. "He'll survive."
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