Ambushed in Baghdad

Scott Erwin came from his job in Iraq to walk across the stage with his University of Richmond graduating class on May 9.

Last year Scott Erwin put his college education on hold to go to Iraq and teach democracy.

Previous thread: University of Richmond senior Scott Erwin is helping to build a democratic Iraq

Talk about a senior trip.

Scott Erwin, a senior at the University of Richmond, is spending this academic year in one of the most dangerous places in the world - Baghdad - where bullets fly, trucks explode and heavily armed helicopter gunships skim the rooftops.

It's a long way from the tall pines on the UR campus.

University of Richmond student seriously injured in Iraq
By LORRAINE M. BLACKWELL
Associated Press Writer Jun 3, 2004
RICHMOND, Va. - A University of Richmond senior who opted to take a civilian job in Iraq instead of completing his final semester was seriously wounded in an ambush in Baghdad this week.
Bob Erwin said he and his wife, Karen, were notified at their home in Kansas City, Mo., Wednesday afternoon that their only child, Scott, had been seriously wounded.
The 22-year-old is employed by the Coalition Provisional Authority, the U.S.-led agency helping Iraqis establish a democratic government. Erwin also teaches a civic education program he developed called Ambassadors for Democracy to Iraqi students at Mustanseriya University in Baghdad.
"He was caught in an ambush coming back from the university," his father said.
Scott Erwin was traveling in a police car with two Iraqi police officers and a translator when he was shot. Both of the Iraqi officers, who were in the front seat, were killed, Bob Erwin said.
Erwin said he had been in touch with his son's boss and friends, who told him, "It wasn't a random shooting. Their car was followed from the university by their attackers ... and they raked the car with gunfire."
Bob Erwin said his son was targeted "because he was working with the democracy program and had gotten attention."
Scott Erwin was shot three times _ once in each arm and in the abdomen _ and spent three hours in surgery in Baghdad. His condition is serious but stable, Bob Erwin said, and is expected to be flown to a hospital in Germany on Friday.
Erwin said his son's girlfriend in Baghdad told him Scott Erwin could have been killed had it not been for a battery he had stuck inside the identification badge he was wearing around his neck.
"The bullet hit the battery and deflected one of the bullets that hit his arm," Erwin said he was told. "Otherwise the bullet would have hit him in the chest."
An interpreter who was in the back seat with Erwin pulled him down into the car to keep him from further injury, his father said.
Other Iraqi police arrived and chased the attackers off.
"He's a strong kid," Erwin said. "He's lucky as hell."
Police have a description of the suspects, and U.S. and international authorities are investigating the shooting.
RTD

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