Gunshot-Wound Patient Slain in EMS Presence

From JEMS magazine, excerpted below:

Seventeen-year-old Billie Rutledge lay on a stretcher, bleeding from handgun wounds and yelling for help, while Detroit paramedics rushed to remove his clothing on Saturday, June 7, according to Free Press. However, before the paramedics could finish assessing him, the masked assailant returned to the scene, now armed with a shotgun, and fatally shot Rutledge in the head.

Rutledge, who had reportedly just finished serving a sentence for a misdemeanor conviction the day before his death, was on a walk with a friend when he was shot several times.

According to police reports, EMS arrived at approximately 3:30 a.m. and found Rutledge lying in a driveway, bleeding from small-caliber bullet wounds and screaming for help. Paramedics James Peyton and Toby Hanna put the patient on a stretcher and snipped off his clothing to locate the wounds.

As they carried the stretcher to an ambulance, the paramedics heard the sound of a shotgun racking and turned to find the assailant on scene again. Peyton and Hanna fled several yards before they heard two shots, the police report states. They were not injured and were on optional stress leave the following Monday.