A U.S. Marine Corps officer, who was shot by a would-be robber over a gold chain placed for sale through Craigslist, has been released from a Broward hospital.
Doctors said Friday that Lt. Col. Karl Trenker has made an amazing recovery from the Dec. 21 attack.
Trenker said Friday that his military training helped save his life.
"There is no doubt. If not the direct training itself, just the experiences that I have had," Trenker said on the Today show.
He also said he's thought a lot about the fact that he survived tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, only to be shot at home.
"I have thought about it quite a bit. There's no words for it. It's just unfathomable that we have this kind of situation here where you go into a combat zone and come out of that unscathed and come back home where it's not, but there's a lot more dangers here."
Trenker’s fiancé advertised a gold necklace on Craigslist, hoping to drum up a little more cash for some Christmas presents. When Trenker went to the arranged meeting place outside an apartment complex in Deerfield Beach, the would-be buyers snatched the chain and took off running. Trenker gave chase.
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Deputies say Jeff Steele and James Flounory, both 20, are the suspects.
While Trenker was chasing them, Steele allegedly turned and fired several shots. At least three hit the Trenker. He used his fingers to plug his wounds, then ran back to his pickup truck to assure his four kids he would be OK.
Trenker said he was angry when the suspect started shooting at him.
"I was actually a little pissed off about it," he said. "I really wanted to make him stop. Obviously, I couldn't. Once I received the second hit, I realized I needed to back away and re-evaluate what I was doing."
Both suspects are charged with attempted murder and armed robbery and are being held on no bond. No attorneys are listed as representing them yet in their court cases.
Trenker’s fiancée, Tanya Saiz, said that when she heard he had been shot, she initially thought it was a joke.
"I was waiting for the punchline," she said. "I was in shock. I started shaking ... I was just devastated."
On Thursday, authorities released the 911 calls of the incident.
Copyright AP - Associated Press
