Newspaper delivery man recovering from gunshot wound
♦ David Gilmore was shot Monday in Cedartown.
David Gilmore considers himself a very lucky man today. Lucky to be alive and recovering from a gunshot wound to the chest while delivering Rome News-Tribune, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and USA Today publications to convenience stores early in the Cedartown area Monday morning.
From his room at Grady
Hospital in Atlanta, Gilmore,
57, said he didn’t have any idea what prompted a man driving a pickup truck in front of him Monday morning to all of a sudden stop, come back to Gilmore’s vehicle and start firing away.
“I don’t know if he thought I was too close,” Gilmore said. “He kept getting slower and eventually stopped, then got out of his car and ran back toward my car. It was dark so I didn’t see that he had a gun.”
He said he believes the man fired as many as five shots. He believes the first shot got him. Subsequent shots shattered his rear window and went into the trunk.
“I kept driving to the next convenience store which was not very far and pulled in there. That’s when I called 911 and that’s when eventually I kind of collapsed.”
Gilmore said he was on South Main Street in Cedartown between 5:20 and 5:30 Monday morning
The lone shot which struck Gilmore passed through his chest right under the heart. He was airlifted to Grady Hospital in Atlanta and underwent emergency surgery Monday. He was slated for a second procedure late Thursday to remove fluid from a lung, but is otherwise alert and able to communicate with his family.
Polk County Police Chief Kenny Dodd said the shooter followed Gilmore into the convenience store parking lot before fleeing the scene. Security video from the store indicated the shooter was in what is believed to be a GMC Sierra, possibly 2000 to 2006 model.
“The whole thing is just crazy, why drive to where your victim is and stop and look at him,” Dodd said.
Chief Dodd is asking for the public’s help to find Gilmore’s shooter.
He is encouraging anyone with knowledge of the incident or information about the truck to contact Sgt. Charles Vainrib at 770-7487331 or call 911.
A Facebook fundraiser has been set up to help Gilmore defray medical expenses. People can make a donation at https:// www.facebook.com/ donate/273342926761430/.