Santa Fe Student Miraculously Survives .38 Cal Neck Wound

Santa Fe High School baseball player Rome Shubert claims he was “shot in the head” at the mass shooting at his school on May 18. Shubert only spent a short time in hospital before requesting the nurse call his mom, presumably so he could go home.

The New Nationalist provides a helpful overview of Shubert’s improbable wound:

At Santa Fe High School, we have a young man. Rome Shubert who unknowingly sustained a shot in the head and emerged unfazed. To quote CNN: “A bullet sliced clean through the back of the Santa Fe High School sophomore’s head … Remarkably, he walked away with just bandages, and said on Twitter he was “completely okay and stable.”

Acting on pure adrenaline, he said, he sprinted to a rear exit in the room and bounded over a 7-foot wall. That’s when Mr. Shubert realized he was covered in blood and he had been shot.

The young man’s mother, Sheri Shubert, chimed in, saying, “The doctors told me it went in clean and came out clean.” She added, “We have to do something. We have to take a stand. America has to take a stand for our kids.”

Yes, those special black-magic bullets again. No contusions or bruising, no swelling, no real effect on hearing except “ears ringing.”

There is a pretty good-size neck muscle located at the exit region. In the non cartoon world, this is what we humans use to flex our necks, and keep our heads upright. By “clean,” we are assuming it hit no vital nerves, veins or arteries. Did it just go though an air cavity? [As video of a.38 caliber ballistic test reveals, the physical impact of such a slug would likely devastate any human being, particularly if sustained in the neck.]

The substantial neck muscle there, however, is impossible to miss. How could one even hold their head up after being hit “clean through the back of his head” exiting from this muscle? If miraculously it missed the muscle, there would still be surrounding swelling and fluid, and the novel concept of supportive muscles. The word “through” in English means “moving in one side and out of the other side.” (Emphases retained.)

A 2011 article from Maxillofacial and Oral Surgery confirms the true severity of a gunshot wound through the neck.

Gunshot injuries cause profound morbidity and significant mortality, especially if they occur in the neck … The high density of vital structures in the neck makes injury to this region highly morbid and often fatal. The trachea, esophagus, carotid and vertebral arteries, cervical spine and spinal cord, phrenic nerve and brachial plexus are all vulnerable [to] injury with neck trauma. Each of these is a vital structure, and any delay in diagnosis and treatment can have devastating consequences. (Emphasis added.)

Surely given the nature and location of such a wound attending medical authorities would exercise caution, perform necessary x-rays and similar exams, and likely admitted Shubert for observation. Instead, he receives a poorly-administered bandage and is sent on his way.

Along these lines, wouldn’t it be fitting for local reporters to express skepticism at this “miracle” and investigate further?

Here is Shubert in his own words from an interview with local news channel KHOU, conducted just hours after the shooting incident in which he sustained the grave injury (at 7:48 in video above):

"As soon as I got into--as soon as I got into the emergency room, and they had got me in to a room they [the doctors] were like--I got--had gotten looked over--they--a couple doctors came in there and said, to, its a--just went through and through. And that, uhm, how responsive I am is really, really good.

And so, uh, they were--had gotten my blood pressure. My blood pressure was really high. And, I asked the nurse if it was possible if I could call my mom, and they said--and she gave me the phone.

Reporter: I mean, did you think at one point you were going to die?

Shubert: Yeah. When those shots were goin' I'm like, 'This is it. There's nothing else after this.

Reporter: What about after the fact.

Shubert: After the fact.

Reporter: When you had a hole in your neck.

Shubert: When I felt a hole in my neck I was like ... I mean, I was kinda thinkin' 'This is gonna be the end of my baseball career or a miracle's gonna happen [and] I'm gonna get through this, and be perfectly fine.