Wallace Is Shot, Legs Paralyzed

[Draggingtree]

Washington Post

 

 

Wallace Is Shot, Legs Paralyzed;

Suspect Seized at Laurel Rally

 

By William Greider

Washington Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, May 16, 1972; Page A1

A young assailant dressed in red, white and blue shot Gov. George C. Wallace of Alabama yesterday in the midst of a Laurel campaign rally, leaving him paralyzed in both legs.

Surrounded by a crowd of 1,000, the 52-year-old governor was shot at close range following his speech at the Laurel Shopping Center, about 14 miles northeast of Washington.

Wallace, campaigning in his third bid for the presidency, was hit in the chest and stomach by two bullets that caused four or five wounds.

At 2:15 a.m., a spokesman for Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring said the governor was "awake and alert" in the recovery room. "At this point, his progress is satisfactory," the spokesman said.

At 11 p.m., after five hours surgery, his wife told a press conference that, though he is seriously injured, "I feel very optimistic about him and you know his nature. He didn't earn the title of 'Fighting Little Judge' for nothing ... "

Mrs. Wallace said he was conscious through the ordeal, except while under surgery, and remains in good spirits. "I feel very good that he is alive and he has a sound heart and sound brain ... I couldn't thank God more for that," she said. Three persons traveling with Wallace were also wounded in the shooting.

Police immediately arrested a blond young man identified as Arthur Herman Bremer, a 21-year-old bus boy and janitor from Milwaukee, Wis. He was charged by state authorities with four counts of assault with intent to murder and was arraigned in Baltimore on two federal charges. One of the federal charges was interfering with the civil rights of a candidate for federal office, a provision of the 1968 Civil Rights Act. The Wallace second charge was for assaulting a federal officer; Read More http://www.washingto...llace051672.htm

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