Man Dies of 35-Year-Old Gunshot Wound

[QKShooter]

Man Dies of 35-Year-Old Gunshot Wound
By ANGELA K. BROWN
AP -FORT WORTH, Texas (Jan 7) --

A man shot in the back 35 years ago has died of complications from the shooting and his death has been ruled a homicide — but prosecutors fear the trail for the suspect has long ago gone cold.

So far, police and prosecutors said they have been unable to find out who shot Craig Buford in the back in Denver in 1973.
It was a time before records could be filed on computers.

Lynn Kimbrough, a spokeswoman with the Denver District Attorney's Office, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that her office might file charges if evidence and witnesses can be found.

"After 35 years has passed, that might be a pretty tall order," Kimbrough said.

Although hospitalized for several months after the shooting, Buford healed and had few lasting effects, his relatives said.
He drove city buses in Denver and Seattle and was a truck driver before retiring. He moved to Fort Worth about a year ago.

Buford, 54, was hospitalized recently and had surgery after doctors determined his colon had ruptured; he died Dec. 29.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office ruled Buford's death a homicide, caused by multiple organ failure from complications from his wound.
"He never had any serious health problems, so I was a little surprised to hear all this homicide business after all these years," his wife, Carolyn Buford, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in Tuesday editions.

She said her husband told her about the shooting but she didn't know him then.
She said he had gone to school to pick up a girlfriend and started gambling with other teens.
She said he won some money, and when he refused to give in to the other teens' demands to return it, he was shot.

According to a Denver newspaper article, Craig Buford drove himself to the hospital and named a 17-year-old as the shooter.

Craig Buford didn't dwell on the shooting, his wife said. "He ran into the guy one time, and he said the guy was kind of scared about seeing him," Carolyn Buford told the Fort Worth newspaper.
"He told him, 'Just forget about it. It's over with.'"

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[SIXTO]

"He told him, 'Just forget about it. It's over with.'"

I guess it wasn't over with.

[dukalmighty]

I think they would have an uphill battle trying to convince a jury that 35 years after having no complications he died from the gun shot wound.

[paramedic70002]

The generally accepted standard is death within one year of assault, to be considered a homicide. This is bizarre. How can anyone say that a 35 year old wound was the cause of death. Ridiculous.

[QKShooter]

I thought it was pretty doggone bizarre also.

[SIXTO]

I dunno... If I inject you with aids, but medicine keeps you alive for 20 years should I not be charged with murder once you finally die (of aids)?

[kohburn]

curious how the docotrs determined the gun shot was to blaim

why would it not be the doctor's fault (the one who originally treated his gun shot wound) for not taking care of it completely?

its rediculous and i don't think any jury would go for it.

[kazzaerexys]

It's bizarre, but I'm with SIXTO. And it doesn't seem like the coroner would have any motive other than to give an honest assessment. If they can find somebody to bring to trial, let the jury decide how good the evidence is...

kohburn, that would be a malpractice suit. If the bullet, no matter how mishandled, caused the death, the shooter is to blame---no shot, no death, and no statute of limitations on murder, either.

[Double Naught Spy]

why would it not be the doctor's fault (the one who originally treated his gun shot wound) for not taking care of it completely?

Maybe the doctor could not fully or completely fix the problem.

My grandmother died of a staph infection 22 years she first contracted it as a result of a compound complex bone break. Despite repeated efforts to to eradicate the infection, it managed to survive in the broken bone. The docs would knock it down and think it was gone, only to then have it flare up again a few years later. It finally took her in her late 80s.

So, a person could die of a wound decades later.

[Frogbones]

What about his 35yrs of life style? 35 yrs of diet? Any of that could mostly contribute to his death...not JUST the gun shot wound from 35yrs ago.

Was he fit, did he do all he could do to stay fit, and eat right so that wound could heal it's best? Did he smoke?....to much left out.

Heck the guy whom shot him could be dead....superhighend CEO, Bill Gates, Obama?

Cheesy if you ask me.

[rolyat63]

I dunno... If I inject you with aids, but medicine keeps you alive for 20 years should I not be charged with murder once you finally die (of aids)?

+1 I would think the coroner has not motivation but the facts.

[Double Naught Spy]

What about his 35yrs of life style? 35 yrs of diet? Any of that could mostly contribute to his death...not JUST the gun shot wound from 35yrs ago.

Was he fit, did he do all he could do to stay fit, and eat right so that wound could heal it's best? Did he smoke?....to much left out.

Heck the guy whom shot him could be dead....superhighend CEO, Bill Gates, Obama?

Cheesy if you ask me.

If he would not have otherwise died except for the wound he received, then the wound caused the death.

[Texas Yankee]

It would not be the first time someone died of a gunshot wound years after receiving it.

[ccw9mm]

I think they would have an uphill battle trying to convince a jury that 35 years after having no complications he died from the gun shot wound.

Might well be taken as gospel if it's on the death certificate and the cause of death was determined via a competent examiner's autopsy.

Where's the dividing line? If he dies in 3hrs, it's murder. If in 20 days, it's murder. In 1yr, it's questionable, and in 35yrs it's natural causes? If the colon ruptured due to the bullet eating away the lining this long afterwards, it still ruptured due to the bullet's effects ... 35yrs or not.

That is a long time, though. Doesn't happen every day that a gunshot wound takes that long to take out its target.

[REDTAIL]

It sounds like one to be seen on tv's " Ripley's Believe it or Not "