Living Proof: There <i> Is</i> Hope : Armored-Car Robbery Shooting Victim Who Worked a Miracle Leaves Hospital

SANTA ANA —  For two weeks, while her husband lay in a coma, Carrie Statkus sat at his bedside and never stopped talking.

Friends and relatives joined in, whispering words of encouragement to John Statkus, whose prognosis was grave from the second he was shot in the head during the robbery of his Wells Fargo van in May.

“I talked about everything,” she said Wednesday, glancing at her husband seated next to her. “I talked about the weather or music.”

Eventually, John opened his eyes, and Carrie Statkus says there’s no doubt in her mind that her husband was listening.

Wednesday marked another milestone in John Statkus’ miraculous recovery. After more than three months and multiple operations, the former armored-car driver was released from St. Jude Hospital and Rehabilitation Center in Fullerton.

Though his steps were tentative and his voice muffled and weak, and bullet fragments remain in his head, the 25-year-old man’s smile left little doubt he was glad to be going to his Fullerton home.

Statkus, wearing a brightly colored pullover shirt and dark shorts, and his 22-year-old wife met reporters in their Santa Ana attorney’s office. He remembers nothing of the May 16 incident that nearly killed him.

While his wife and the couple’s attorney, Ronald S. Winters, responded to most questions, Statkus did not hesitate when asked if he would return to his job with Wells Fargo.

“Hell, no!” he declared, adding that he planned to go fishing, maybe to a favorite lake in the Boston area where he grew up.

Statkus was wounded during a botched holdup involving three men at a Garden Grove 7-Eleven store where the Wells Fargo guard was restocking an automated teller machine.

Authorities have said the suspects--Marc A. Blount, 25, of Pomona; and Thomas A. Chaney, 28, and Gilbert O. Green, 22, both of Ontario--allegedly planned the robbery up to five days before the incident. The men knew Statkus’ route, authorities said, because Chaney had once worked for Wells Fargo and had driven the route.

Statkus, carrying about $185,000 at the time of the holdup, was reportedly pushed inside the truck and shot several times--twice in the head--before the suspects fled without the money.

Blount, Chaney and Green have all been charged with attempted murder, kidnaping to commit robbery, robbery, attack with a deadly weapon and criminal conspiracy. They are scheduled to appear in Superior Court for pretrial hearings in the case Oct. 4.

Carrie Statkus said Wednesday that her husband’s condition was so severe when he reached the hospital that doctors began preparing her for his death.

“They sat there and told me he was going to die, that he was going to die and that he was going to die,” she said. “You don’t believe what doctors say. If you don’t have high hopes, what have you got?”

Statkus briefly described his recovery as “very difficult,” and the couple indicated that a lengthy rehabilitation program was ahead of them. With practice, Carrie Statkus said her husband’s voice is expected to return to normal.

The former guard said he isn’t certain what the future holds for him.

“He still doesn’t know what he’s been through,” his wife said.

Winters, who represents the family on workers’ compensation issues, said Statkus and his wife had fought hard to see the guard walk away from the hospital. Winters said that Statkus’ wounds caused some memory loss, which has forced him to relearn some basic communication and motor skills.

“Can you imagine taking two bullets to the brain?” Winters said. “He is doing real well, but he has a long way to go. There is no way to assess how far he can go. He is a tough kid.

“From this point forward comes the real hard work,” Winters said of the planned rehabilitation program. “His wife will be taking an active role in his recovery.”

“I’ll be there to support him and push him up,” Carrie Statkus said.