# Who has been shot the most times and still survived? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 5, 2007, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-been-shot-the-most-times-and-still-survived/421604 "2007-10-05T05:16:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-been-shot-the-most-times-and-still-survived/421604/21 "2007-10-05T19:22:23Z")
Crucifixion victims eventually die from asphyxiation, not from bleeding. What little I know of automatic weapons tells me that you usually don’t get hit with too many bullets from them, as the barrel tends to rise and what not, but given the hundreds-of-rounds-per-second rates of fire some of those things have, surely _someone_ must have taken a few dozen in the leg and lived? Stranger things have happened, haven’t they? ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-been-shot-the-most-times-and-still-survived/421604/22 "2007-10-05T19:30:40Z")
[QUOTE=Priceguy] _someone_ must have taken a few dozen in the leg and lived? Stranger things have happened, haven’t they? [/QUOTE] I’ve heard a story about an RAF pilot during the Battle of Britain who was shot multiple times, yet landed his plane and made his report to the commanding officer before seeking treatment. But despite googling like a mf, I can’t find an actual account of it. ---
**Author:** ![Wakinyan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wakinyan/32/352_2.png) [@Wakinyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wakinyan)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-been-shot-the-most-times-and-still-survived/421604/23 "2007-10-05T22:01:30Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] The legends say that Rasputin was poisoned, shot many times and “bobbitized” by a group of Russian soldiers who then threw what was left of him into a river. When the body was found, it was discovered old Grigory had drowned to death. How much of that story is true is anyone’s guess. [/QUOTE] The death of Rasputin is something else. For instance, see the really really fine biography [Nicholas and Alexandra](http://www.amazon.com/Nicholas-Alexandra-Robert-K-Massie/dp/157912433X/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-1361237-9420655?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191621348&sr=1-1). While the life and death of Rasputin resembles über urban myths galore - he was truly something else, as was his death (there are a few wtf characters in the history of man). Anyhow, the book by Massie is recommended. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-been-shot-the-most-times-and-still-survived/421604/24 "2007-10-05T23:37:01Z")
I’m putting this up as anecdotal because I can’t confirm the source. [This](http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/archive/index.php?t-50895.html) goes to a gun owners message board and the OP relates a story he first heard on the radio and apparently confirmed on a website. He gives the address, which goes to somewhere called access atlanta, but the specific page has disappeared. The OP quotes from the absent page as follows: > [@](#): > > Police shot Devin Grant at least 16 times following a chase from Atlanta to Douglasville last week. > > And Grant is alive and doing well. > > His body was riddled with bullets — in his neck, back, arms and leg, said Dr. Raymond Cava, a Grady Memorial Hospital surgeon. When it was over, he had been hit so many times that he had 24 entry and exit wounds. > > “He’s going to live,” Cava said. “I think he’s extremely lucky.” > > Three police officers shot Grant, 22, on Dec. 14 following a chase from Atlanta to Douglasville. Grant’s 2-year-old son, Devin Jr., was in the back seat of the car when his father was shot, but was only slightly cut by flying glass. A neighbor riding in Grant’s car was not injured. > > The chase began when police tried to arrest Grant at a roadblock on a minor traffic warrant. He ran over a cop with his car and shot at police as they chased him, authorities said. No officers were shot, though one bullet did hit an Atlanta police officer’s car. The cop hit by Grant’s car was not seriously injured. > > Jail officials refused this week to allow Grant to speak with the newspaper, though his family said he wanted to tell his story. > > Cava said in his 2 1/2 years at Grady, which is the state’s busiest trauma center, he has never seen or even heard of a patient survive being shot so many times. > > Neither has Kelly Fite, who was the state ballistics expert on gunshots during his 31 years with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. > > “I’ve had people shot multiple times, five or six, and survive,” Fite said. But never as many times as Grant, he said. I’ve removed some annoying comments made by the OP and, using some considerable restraint, I’ve refrained from adding any of my own. Especially where the victim is said to be doing well. Details of this story are unavailable at any other website as far as I’m aware. However, there is a doctor called Raymond Cava whose last known place of work is Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Kelly Flite did once work for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Does anybody have a recollection of this incident or is it merely an elaborate fiction? ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-been-shot-the-most-times-and-still-survived/421604/25 "2007-10-05T23:48:12Z")
[QUOTE=steronz] 50 Cent was shot 9 times with a 9mm. That deserves a mention. [/QUOTE] **Peanuthead** : “Doctor, how is 50 cent doing?” **Doctor** : “No change.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2007, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-been-shot-the-most-times-and-still-survived/421604/26 "2007-10-06T08:17:16Z")
[QUOTE=Peanuthead] **Peanuthead** : “Doctor, how is 50 cent doing?” **Doctor** : “No change.” 😃 [/QUOTE] Well, here we go again. A serious question in GQ and someone just has, just HAS to make some silly joke about (No change?) 50 cents? ((snert)) (cough) BWA (cough, cough) HAHA 'Scuse me, I have a cold. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2007, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-been-shot-the-most-times-and-still-survived/421604/27 "2007-10-06T13:33:31Z")
> [@](#): > > Cathal Brugha, with 23 bullet wounds in his body, was taken to the Union Hospital, where he was captured by the British and taken to Dublin Castle on Friday 28 April. Mr Birrell, the Chief Secretary, ordered that Brugha was to be taken to hospital. “He’s almost dead,” said Birrell. “I don’t think we’ll have to worry about him.” It is reported that right up to the very last bullet wound Cathal Brugha was fighting as hard as any man. [http://www.anphoblacht.com/news/detail/8903](http://www.anphoblacht.com/news/detail/8903) He also was wounded by a grenade as well as the bullet wounds on the same day. I remember a old republican(in the Irish sense) say that when Cathal walked into the first Irish Parliament you could hear the English bullets rattling in him 😃 He was killed during the Irish Civil war > [@](#): > > Most of the anti-treaty fighters under Oscar Traynor escaped from O’Connell Street when the buildings they were holding caught fire, leaving Brugha in command of a small rearguard. On 5 July he ordered his men to surrender. He then approached the Free State troops, brandishing a revolver. He sustained a bullet wound to the leg which ‘severed a major artery causing him to bleed to death’. He died on 7 July 1922, just 11 days before his 48th birthday. He is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery. > **[Cathal Brugha](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathal_Brugha)** > > Cathal Brugha (\[ˈkahəlˠ ˈbˠɾˠuː\] KOH-ul BROO; born Charles William St John Burgess; 18 July 1874 – 7 July 1922) was an Irish republican politician who served as Minister for Defence from 1919 to 1922, Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann in January 1919, the first president of Dáil Éireann from January 1919 to April 1919 and Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army from 1917 to 1918. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1918 to 1922. He was active in the Easter Rising, the Irish War of Independe... Say what you want about his politics but the man was a fucking rock. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2007, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-been-shot-the-most-times-and-still-survived/421604/28 "2007-10-06T13:53:31Z")
[QUOTE=mnemosyne] Movies/TV make it look like a gunshot is nearly immediately deadly, but it seems the reality is far from it. [/QUOTE] Don’t know ‘bout that. Poor ol’ Joe [Mannix](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa0_K2bVA_M) was shot in his arm about 50 times (or so it seemed that many times) and always survived.😛 (okay, but not all at once! :smack: ) ---
**Author:** ![whatami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/85f322/32.png) [@whatami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whatami)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2007, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-been-shot-the-most-times-and-still-survived/421604/29 "2007-10-06T21:27:56Z")
[This](http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=local&id=5297375) story is about a guy who was shot 25 times by police, and lived. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2007, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-been-shot-the-most-times-and-still-survived/421604/30 "2007-10-06T22:20:34Z")
According to an unsourced statement at [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Kelly), some sources claim Ned Kelly took 26 bullets in the legs and survived to stand trial. The situation - armoured head and torso, lone man against many armed opponents, the year 1880 - seems ideal for producing a record number of shots. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-been-shot-the-most-times-and-still-survived/421604/31 "2007-10-07T00:01:42Z")
[QUOTE=mnemosyne] Anyways, what struck me is that it’s amazing that a person can get shot so many times (heck, even more than once or twice) and not be more injured than that. Movies/TV make it look like a gunshot is nearly immediately deadly, but it seems the reality is far from it. [/QUOTE] If you’re not hit in the heart, lungs, a major artery, the brain, or the upper spine, you can keep on trucking for a right long time. Generally it’s the lung or the bleeding that gets you. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-been-shot-the-most-times-and-still-survived/421604/32 "2007-10-07T01:25:42Z")
How about a shotgun, is that just one, or do you count the individual pellets? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-been-shot-the-most-times-and-still-survived/421604/33 "2007-10-07T02:30:15Z")
[QUOTE=Brain Wreck] If you’re not hit in the heart, lungs, a major artery, the brain, or the upper spine, you can keep on trucking for a right long time. Generally it’s the lung or the bleeding that gets you. [/QUOTE] Or sepsis, particularly if you get shot in the gut. The .22 Long Rifle round is the all time king in death by shooting, not because it is a particularly effective round in terms of stopping potential (it’s not) but because the high sectional density allows it to pass through and through, and because many times victims disregard the wound as being minor, then succomb to systemic failure days later. Bleeding will actually pretty much fix itself by the natural processes of hemostasis (clotting, constriction, et cetera) if you haven’t hit an artery or major internal organ, and lung punctures are typically fatal within a few minutes from pneumothorax (lung collapse) if not treated. The human body is kind of an amazing thing; it can take a lot of punishment and keep on going, but the kind of intrusive trauma done by firearms pretty much guarantees that anything but a grazing hit will have residual consequences. This whole business about taking a “flesh wound” to the shoulder is pure Hollywood bullshit; between the number of nerves going through that region and the profusion of blood vessels and critical mechanical connections getting shot in the shoulder is going to put an end to anyone’s pitching career. This isn’t in the running for the numerical extreme, but my grandfather once reputedly shot a robber in the chest three times, including one shot that entered the heart, with a .32 S&W Long. Despite the heart shot and being left on the floor to bleed while police jawed on a bit and escorted the other perpetrators out of the building, the guy survived and did a stretch at one of our nation’s then-finest Federal penitentiary. (The robbers had planned the heist across state lines and were wanted for a string of cowboy jewel robberies in multiple states, hence Federal involvement.) As a result, he moved up to the .38 Spl, backed up by a 12 gauge hogleg under the counter. I question the efficacy of the .38 Spl (this is before the .357 Magnum became widely issued in law enforcement circles) but I think 12 gauge buckshot at close range is pretty much going to stamp anyone’s ticket as paid. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![flex727](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/258eb7/32.png) [@flex727](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flex727)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-been-shot-the-most-times-and-still-survived/421604/34 "2007-10-07T14:51:58Z")
[QUOTE=pkbites] Don’t know ‘bout that. Poor ol’ Joe [Mannix](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa0_K2bVA_M) was shot in his arm about 50 times (or so it seemed that many times) and always survived.😛 (okay, but not all at once! :smack: ) [/QUOTE] No, no, it was Matt Dillon that had the most arm wounds. And in this vein, the answer to the OP is clearly Robocop. ---
**Author:** ![GiantRat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@GiantRat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GiantRat)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-been-shot-the-most-times-and-still-survived/421604/35 "2007-10-09T01:33:21Z")
The undisputed champion, I’d suggest is Roy Benavidez. Benavidez was a US Army SF soldier in Vietnam. He took 37 bullet and bayonet wounds, plus a broken jaw and multiple blunt impacts, along with shrapnel. > **[Roy Benavidez](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Benavidez)** > > Master Sergeant Raul Perez "Roy" Benavidez (August 5, 1935 – November 29, 1998) was a United States Army soldier who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his valorous actions in combat near Lộc Ninh, South Vietnam on May 2, 1968, while serving as a member of the United States Army Special Forces during the Vietnam War. > Roy P. Benavidez was born in Lindenau near Cuero, Texas, in DeWitt County. He is a descendant of the founders of Benavides, Texas, and was the son of a Mexican farmer, Salvador Bena... ---
**Author:** ![whatami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/85f322/32.png) [@whatami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whatami)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-been-shot-the-most-times-and-still-survived/421604/36 "2007-10-10T20:38:21Z")
[QUOTE=Priceguy] According to an unsourced statement at [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Kelly), some sources claim Ned Kelly took 26 bullets in the legs and survived to stand trial. The situation - armoured head and torso, lone man against many armed opponents, the year 1880 - seems ideal for producing a record number of shots. [/QUOTE] Did he really _stand_ trial after being hit in the legs 26 times?! ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-been-shot-the-most-times-and-still-survived/421604/37 "2007-10-11T00:05:09Z")
[QUOTE=flex727] No, no, it was Matt Dillon that had the most arm wounds.. [/QUOTE] I’m sorry, but I don’t recall Dillon getting shot as often as Mannix did. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2007, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-been-shot-the-most-times-and-still-survived/421604/38 "2007-10-14T11:48:22Z")
[QUOTE=steronz] 50 Cent was shot 9 times with a 9mm. That deserves a mention. [/QUOTE] And that was just by music lovers. ---
**Author:** ![longcolt45](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@longcolt45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/longcolt45)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-been-shot-the-most-times-and-still-survived/421604/39 "2010-10-13T03:13:33Z")
Louis Redman back in the 1800’s was a moon shiner in North Carolina and killed a revenue man. He supposily was shot 18 times when arrested a few years later, but he lived and served several years in prison for the killing. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-been-shot-the-most-times-and-still-survived/421604/40 "2010-10-13T03:48:01Z")
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