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Family hopeful of miraculous recovery as victim communicates and moves arms and legs Shot man to be airlifted

Showing signs of recovery: Richard Gaglio

Shooting victim Richard Gaglio is expected to be flown off the Island today, with his family hopeful he is making a miraculous recovery.

On Sunday night, doctors said Mr. Gaglio was showing no brain activity after he was shot at close range in the chest following a poker game at his home in the early hours of that day.

Since then, the 62-year-old has come out of a coma, communicated with his loved ones and shown movement in his arms and legs. His condition last night was described as critical but stable.

Today, he is expected to be flown to Baltimore's Johns Hopkins hospital, which is especially well regarded for its treatment of brain injuries.

Mr. Gaglio's twin brother Raymond told The Royal Gazette yesterday: "What has happened since he came out of the coma is truly amazing.

"I held his hand and said 'can you hear me?' — he acknowledged that he could."

Raymond admitted the recovery will be slow but said there's a lot more hope now than on Sunday.

"We're thankful for all of the support from all of his friends. Richard's bullheaded, he'll admit that, but he's one of the kindest people in the world," he said.

Medics at Johns Hopkins will remove the bullet, which is still lodged in Mr. Gaglio's chest. Scan results have been sent to experts in Johns Hopkins as well as Boston.

Two men burst into Mr. Gaglio's home in Hinson Lane, Smith's, at about 1.30 a.m. on Sunday, hoping to steal thousands of dollars which had been exchanging hands in a poker game with many well-known members of the community.

However, almost all the 25 or so players had already gone home, taking virtually all the cash with them, meaning that after shooting Mr. Gaglio the intruders made off with less than $140.

Detectives are continuing their investigation and going through a list of everyone who has played poker at Mr. Gaglio's house in the past couple of weeks. Players from Saturday night's game have been asked to hand in their shoes to investigating officers. It's thought this might be because the investigators are trying to check whether the culprits left footprints at the scene. The Police received new powers this week under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) to take footwear impressions from people in custody something particularly useful when detectives have identified shoe print marks at the scene of a crime.

Acting Public Safety Minister Walter Roban condemned the shooting of Mr. Gaglio and said such violence would not be tolerated.

Speaking to The Royal Gazette 24 hours after the incident, Mr. Roban said: "We are supportive of the effort by the Police. We, as the Government, over the past year have ensured they are fully staffed."

Mr. Roban added that new search measures afforded to the Police through PACE would further help the Service do their job.

"The public also has a role to play by telling Police what they witness. Police cannot do their role if the public do not play a part in it," he added.

Shadow Public Safety Minister Michael Dunkley commented earlier this week that the latest gun incident made now a good time to hold an Island-wide firearms amnesty, an idea mooted by Premier Ewart Brown a year ago.

Responding to this, Dr. Brown issued a statement saying: "I meet with the Governor regularly and at our next meeting I plan to raise the issue of a gun amnesty. I think it has the potential to be effective in making our community safer."

• One of the suspects involved in the shooting of Richard Gaglio was about 5ft 9ins and his accomplice was noticeably shorter. Both men were black. Anyone with information should call the Serious Crime Unit on 299-8106 or CrimeStoppers confidentially on 1-800-8477.