A response to the "Shooting at Shawnee" by Carl Baker

hello, my name is Carl Baker. I am the man who was shot. I want to thank the many people who have posted their words. I have read all of them. It has been 4 1/2 months ago that this happened to me . I am in pretty bad shape and am crippled as a result of the bullet that went thru both of my legs. I have recently graduated from the wheelchair and the walker and I am able to stand up and walk some with the use of a cane. my doctors tell me that I will never have normal legs. especialy my left leg. the bullet went thru my left leg about 4 inches above the knee cap it shattered the distal aspect of my left femur bone and on the way thru it took with it lots of mussle that will never grow back and severed the tendens that make the leg work the exit wound was massive it then went thru the calf mussle of my right leg. I didn't even know i was shot in the right leg untill i got to the hospital in harrisburg. I was then transfered by helicoppter to barnes jewish hospital in ST.Lois. there I recieved the finest care and owe my life to the wonderfull Doctors and Nurses. I was there for 10 days and had three different surgeries I nearly lost my left leg however with metal implants and screws and skin graphs they put me back together as best they could.thank god for the morphine getting shot point blank with a high powered rifle can be very painfull and still is. I take prescription pain medication as well as specialy precribed stuff for nerve damage it is amassing how numbness can be so painfull.

I am sure there are lots of people that would like to hear from me why I had a rifle at a gathering. the answer is simple. me and my family decided to travel and we planned to be gone all winter and were planning on going as far south as the florida keys and as far west as wyoming. we took all of our possitions including my hunting rifle for the porpose of hunting if we got the opertunity. I also had fishing poles. I like to hunt and fish. that was the reason the rifle was kept in the camper. I don't see any problem with that.and that brings us to another question.

Why and how come it was brought out and brandished and how come i was ultimately shot with my own rifle...that is a question that deserves an answer and I want very much to tell all the rainbow family the details of what happened and I will do so. but not at this time as I am exhausted right now and it is late . I want to be rested and alert when I tell of the horrer that took place. in my next post you will read my story and how I saw it from both ends of the gun. please excuse me I need to rest now.