Loughner was able to put a bullet to Judge Roll’s aorta as Roll dived for the table, but in all those shots didn’t manage to take out his “intended target” at point-blank range.
“Loughner was able to put a bullet to Judge Roll’s aorta as Roll dived for the table, but in all those shots didn’t manage to take out his “intended target” at point-blank range.”
If you shot your intended target in the eye at point blank range, would you expect them to live?
It’s very clear from this account that Gifford, not Roll, was the principal focus of concern for Loughner. If he had been trying to off the judge, he would have shot him first. After all, in a conceal carry state like AZ, for all he knew, someone was going to shoot him within seconds of his taking his first shot. Roll was unlucky. Sounds like if the bullet had been just inches to one side or the other, he would have been wounded, but not fatally etc. When shooting into his torso, Loughner could have had no real confidence that Roll would die. If Roll really had been the intended assassination target, one would think that aiming for the head would be a more reliable way of killing the victim (or permanently maiming him for life).
Nearly 90% of people shot with a pistol cartridge survive. The ones that die bleed out because they ran and therefore could not get a transfusion in time. With a shot through the aorta you would bleed out in 7 seconds, hardly time for a transfusion. Just like real estate, location is everything in shot placement.