By Roger Lanse

A Silver City police officer was dispatched to the emergency room at Gila Regional Medical Center on Sunday, Aug. 2, at about 7:10 a.m. in reference to a gunshot wound suffered by a 21-year-old Silver City man.

The officer had contact with the victim who appeared to be intoxicated and who had a gunshot wound to his right upper calf, according to a SCPD incident report. The bullet did not penetrate, but only grazed the skin, and the officer was advised that X-rays were taken and there were no bullet fragments inside the leg.

The victim said, according to the report, that he didn’t want to report anything, but was only at the hospital to have the wound cleaned due to his friend insisting that he have it checked.

The victim told the officer, the report said, that he was walking on Gold Street between 2:30 and 3 a.m. and was seven blocks from his home when he heard gunshots. But didn’t notice that he had been hit until he felt his sock was wet from blood. The victim said that he saw several cars parked on Gold Street but did not recognize any cars or people in the area. He refused to give any more information, refused to speak with a detective, refused to allow photographs to be taken of the wound, and stated that he did not want any type of retaliation from whoever shot him because he went to the hospital and talked to police.