Killed by a gunshot to the KNEE?!?

[BushidoMarine]

Article here

Gunshot kills Indy man, 21

By Vic Ryckaert
vic.ryckaert@indystar.com

Indianapolis homicide detectives are investigating the death of a 21-year-old man who died at the hospital after suffering a gunshot wound to the leg.


The victim was shot in the right knee at a home in the 300 block of North Temple Avenue about 12:30 a.m. this morning, police said. He was pronounced dead at Wishard Memorial Hospital.
The victim's name is being withheld pending notification of his family.

What was he hit with...an RPG???

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[QKShooter]

Boy...if there ever was ever a newspaper story with...NOT ENOUGH INFORMATION - that would be be the one.

21 years old & dead of a gunshot wound to the knee.

We have some paramedics here that could maybe clue us in as to how a leg/knee wound could be fatal & while already in the hospital???

[firefighter4884]

QK...it says he was pronounced dead at the hospital. I take that to mean that the EMS crew throught he was a viable patient, and in the middle of transporting him to the ER, he went into cardiac arrest. They worked him, but he never transitioned back to a stable heart rhythm.

As for what killed the man, my guess (and this only a guess, I wasn't there) is that the man went into shock because of the injury. Any and all shock cases can be fatal. The other possibility is that an artery was nicked of severed by the round, or a piece of the knee itself. This would lead to something similar to the field surgery done in Black Hawk Down, except civilian medics are NOT allowed to do field surgery...

--Jim

[Bud White]

i would think shock or something got the artery as posted above ..

if he wasnt shot with a RPG that is

[MattInFla]

There is a significant artery, the Popliteal, that runs through the center of the knee. It can be hard to compress, depending on the specific nature of the injury, although constriction and pressure to the femoral artery should be sufficient to acheive hemostasis in most cases.

Perhaps he bled quite a lot before assistance arrived.

Matt

[P95Carry]

Matt got in already - indeed, Popliteal and in terms of volumetric loss that could be almost as bad as a Femoral artery leak.

I'd reckon maybe no one would think ''serious'' if a knee injury was possibly assuming ''minor'' - ''patch it up'' later etc. Once bleed gone on long enough and BP drops to critical and below - not too much to be done.

No wound is really trivial - until proven so!!

[rstickle]

Like has been said, I figured he might have bled out for some reason.
Been away from the EMT thing to long, shock was down the list of things that ran through whats left of my mind.

[scbair]

Killed! Couldn't "they" have just shot him in the knee, or . . . Oh, Wait!!

[QKShooter]

Or loss of lots of blood sure would do it.

21 years old...awful young to "check out" so early getting shot in the knee.

[gddyup]

He may also have had an underlying condition that may have caused him to bleed out and fall into shock quicker than expected considering the MOI. Hitting the artery mentioned above also would make pretty short work of his chances had there been no help within a few minutes of the shooting. There was also no indication of response time to the incident which may also have been a factor in this case.

[QKShooter]

Well, just a reminder that any gunshot wound is mighty SERIOUS business.

[jeephipwr]

Especially if it is in me

Be sure to call 911

[WIMPY]

Could Have Been A Blood Clot From The Wound Went To Heart, Lung Or Brain. Legs Are Famous For Blood Clots.

[MattInFla]

Could Have Been A Blood Clot From The Wound Went To Heart, Lung Or Brain. Legs Are Famous For Blood Clots.

Clots traveling about are a later complication usually. Simple bleeding out seems more likely.

Matt

[joker581]

The most likely cause was shock.

However, like others have stated, there can be a large amount of bleeding. I have also seen occaisional cases where a large caliber bullet, or shotgun, wound nearly severs the limb at the knee, causing the obvious amount of trauma and resulting in death.