Shot Marine Colonel plugged gunshot wounds with fingers
DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla.—A Marine officer said Friday he reacted as he was trained to do by chasing two men who stole a gold necklace he thought they were buying, and then using his fingers to plug bullet holes in his body when one of them opened fire.
Lt. Col. Karl Trenker, a 29-year Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, demonstrated at a hospital news conference how he stuck his fingers on his left hand into two holes in his left chest and another finger from his right hand where a .22-caliber bullet entered his abdomen. His doctor said the move helped staunch the flow of blood.
“I’m a Marine and I’m not going to run from a fight,” Trenker said. “You wouldn’t want a Marine to run from a fight. Call me crazy, call me stupid. I got shot once and it just angered me more. I wanted to get this guy. I got shot twice, and I re-evaluated that decision. I decided I need to stay alive.”
As for the use of his fingers, Trenker said, “I improvised.”
Trenker, 48, was shot multiple times Dec. 21. He had driven with four of his children to meet a man who responded to a Craigslist ad for the necklace. Two suspects are jailed on attempted murder and robbery charges.
Trenker, who was released Friday from North Broward Medical Center, will be left with one slug lodged in his pelvis but otherwise should make a full recovery, said Dr. Igor Nichiporenko. The doctor credited Trenker’s military training and fitness for his rapid recovery — as well as his use of fingers to plug the bullet holes.
“I think he did the right thing,” Nichiporenko said. “It’s amazing. He’s going to be fine.”…..