Public Safety
Realtor Recovering After Getting Shot in Puerto Vallarta
A Palm Springs Realtor is recovering after being shot while in Puerto Vallarta, while celebrating his husbands birthday.
It’s the first Carl Blea has had a chance to take it all in, the good and the bad.
“It was amazing, we spent the night having dinner,” said Blea. “Changed to go out, just went out dancing and had an amazing time.”
But that night out on the town took a turn for the worse.
“It happened so fast, that pop pop, I was on the floor and that’s all I remember,”
“It happened so fast, that pop pop, I was on the floor and that’s all I remember,” he said.
He and Marc Lange were walking home from a night at the bars when they spotted a man standing outside of his car nearby.
“Screamed out something, Marc looked back. Looked forward again and then for whatever reason in that one quick second, I looked back and the next thing you know, I had a gun drawn on my back,” said Blea.
So they both tried to run but the man fired his gun hitting Blea in the buttocks. He dropped to the ground as his husband screamed for help, any help. But there was someone else there that night the two couldn’t see but Blea felt in his heart.
“My mom was there that night and she was able to get through this. My mom was always my rock and she meant the world to me and I feel she’s my angel. She was my angel there in that moment,” he said. “I was going to be ok and I know we’re going to be ok and at the end of the day, I am just grateful to be alive.”
Nearly a week after the shooting, his hospital bracelet is still on while his body is covered with cuts and bruises but the one thing that’s getting him through the recovery is the ring on his finger.
“Marc is an amazing man and he’s been by my side through it all,” said Blea.
He’s now on the road to a slow recovery but life is much more valuable and seconds he has are that much more important.
“We’re all super blessed to have this amazing life and it’s something like this that happens, it makes you realize that we have this life and you have to live it to the fullest.”
KMIR News did receive a statement from the l-g-b-t civil association of commerce and tourism for Puerto Vallarta. They say this was a random and isolated incident and is definitely not part of the Puerto Vallarta day to day LGBTQ experience and they hope this doesn’t sway peoples decisions to visit the city for vacation.
Puerto Vallarta Police say this was an attempted robbery gone wrong. Blea and Lange disagree, saying this was clearly a hate crime.
A suspect has not been identified in the shooting as police continue to investigate.
By: NBC Palm Springs
March 29, 2018
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