‘He’s Superman’: Marine Survives Shooting By Plugging His Bullet Wounds With His Fingers
- Posted on December 28, 2011 at 9:55am by
Jonathon M. Seidl
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Marine Karl Trenker.
His fiance calls him, a U.S. Marine, “superman.” And when you hear Karl Trenker’s story, that might not be too far off.
Trenker’s fiance recently placed an ad on Craigslist to sell a gold necklace. But when Trenker, instead of his fiance, went to meet the potential buyers last Wednesday, they weren’t really interested in making a deal. Instead, one of the men grabbed the chain and ran with it. Trenker, 29, decided to chase him. That’s when the robber pulled a gun on the veteran and shot him several times in the chest and torso.
“I was pointing out the caret marks on the chain to him, and then kind of pick it up, put it in his hands and said, ‘Yeah, that feels real,’ and then he just took off running,” he told local news outlets, including WSVN-TV.
“I dialed my phone and called my fiance and said, ‘Listen I’ve been shot I think three times,” he later added:
“I can’t believe this,” said Trenker. “I go to Iraq and Afghanistan multiple times, and I haven’t been shot or blown up, and I’m here at home in Florida, and here I am riding in an ambulance with a bunch of gunshot wounds.”
His fiance, Tanya Saiz, couldn’t believe it either. Initially, she was the one who might have been making the sale. But what’s more unbelievable to her is the way Trenker responded.
The two assailants, Steele (L) and Flounory (R).
“I mean, it’s amazing to me how this guy had been shot this many times. I mean, he’s Superman, you know, and he‘s talking to me just as calmly as I’m sitting here talking to you know,” she told WSVN. “He told me, ‘I’ve been shot three times, my fingers are in the bullet holes, the police are going to take care of the kids.’ So really when you think about it, he saved my life because those guys were expecting me to be there, not him.”
The assailant, 20-year-old Jeff Steele, and his accomplice, James Flounory — also 20, remain in jail without bond.
As for Trenker, he has a message for them.
“If he didn’t have a pistol I would’ve whipped his butt.”
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Comments (173)
vtxphantom
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 10:54amI wish he would have caught them on the run. I would like to see the raw meat mug shots of these two thugs.
Report Post »Ruler4You
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 11:05amBasic training teaches you to plug your wounds or those of your buddy with your fingers or what ever you have that WILL plug the holes. He was smart to remember what to do.
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 11:15amHe said, “If he didn‘t have a pistol I would’ve whipped his butt”
hmmm…
MY reaction is:
IF YOU HAD A PISTOL, YOU WOULD’VE SHOT HIS BUTT INSTEAD OF GETTING SHOT !
(Or, more likely, he wouldn’t have tried it if he saw your weapon on your hip!)
I’m just sayin.
Report Post »tmplarnite
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 11:20amWhere were his survival training skills….‘First site’ of THESE two dirtbags would have made me get right back into the car and get the “H” out of there…as fast as I could!
Report Post »UPSETVET
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 12:04pmGunshot wounds plugged with your and somebody else’s fingures have saved many wounded Marines. When we were taught this “little trick” in boot camp ( in the 50′s) it was learned with a “yea, right” very sceptical attitude. Later we learned the true value of this “little trick”. It saved my life and I‘m glad it saved Trenker’s life as well. Semper FI
Report Post »OneofMany
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 12:24pmYeah and I bet those two thugs had a REGISTERED handgun too… GUN LAWS are USELESS to criminals and ONLY penalize law abiding citizens! ONE MORE EXAMPLE!
Report Post »phishing4men
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 1:28pmTMPLARNITE
Report Post »Posted on December 28, 2011 at 11:20am
Where were his survival training skills….‘First site’ of THESE two dirtbags would have made me get right back into the car and get the “H” out of there…as fast as I could!
Oh yeah big shot woulda shoulda coulda, you armchair quarterbtacks with all you advice need to shut your pieholes. They would have found you in the fetal position crying
Teufel Hunden
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 1:37pmTmplarnite,
Of course you would have ran, but Marines don’t. It‘s a mindset you wouldn’t understand.
Report Post »TEUFELHUNDENUSMC
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 1:52pmThese guys are going to have to be careful about who they tell in jail about what they did. If they run into a former Marine in prison……they will end up with more holes than they inflicted.
Report Post »Don’t they know how hard it is to kill a Marine. There are people all over the world that would be willing to testify to that fact. There are more dead people who stand (lay) as a similar testament.
Sleazy Hippo
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 2:13pmWe used to carry tampons and maxipads on our helmets to staunch bullet wounds if Charlie came to call. There is too much bacteria under fingernails and using the finger is a bad idea unless there is no other choice. (bullets are relatively clean compared to human hands) I hope the gunny does not get infected.
Report Post »000degrees
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 2:21pmMarines are not allowed to die without permission. Oorah, Semper Fi.
Report Post »scheduler
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 2:42pmHero.
http://politicalbowl.com – Political Videos
Report Post »DROPNWALLS79
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 3:08pmIm 32 years old, and was robbed at gun point twice before I was old enough to carry a gun for protection. Both times by a small group of young black males. One of my best friends in High School was shot and killed our seinior year by an 19 yr old black male. It seems to me that the “ Thug life attitude” has taken over the youth of black communities. Listen to popular rap music, total disregard for any type of respect of anything. Its not only sad, its deadly. And the so called leaders of the black population in this country excuse this type of behavior and even encourage it by telling young people they have less because someone else has more. I dont know what the answer is, but its high time the problem is confronted.
Report Post »Bum thrower
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 3:08pmGet a CHL; carry ALWAYS….“never leave home without it”……and don’t trust a n*****.!!!
Report Post »KickinBack
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 4:12pmPrison is too good for these pieces of trash. I say before the slammer, send ‘em off to a few weeks in a Marine boot camp, and let everyone there know who they are and what they did. I bet they won’t be the big, bad, tough gangstas then.
Report Post »Jenny Lind
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 10:52amJust the casualness of stealing and then turning around and shooting a human being, scares me. The total disregard for another human’s life. Who raised these wolf pups? Children are “reared”, animals are “raised”.Their biological doners should go to jail too. (Odd’s are neither parent are, or were, involved in teaching any kind of right from wrong.) So sick and tired of society making excuses for these kind of thugs. The reason so many black men are in jail, is the way they are raised, it’s become generational. But by gosh, they can vote!
Report Post »Epmiller1158
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 11:57amThe Government….government assistance,…government food programs….government before, during and after programs….government housing. Living in the projects is no different than living on a Reservation, everything they need to survive is given to them, Things they want, they take.
Report Post »drattastic
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 12:01pmI knew the race of the shooter before I even opened the story.
Report Post »Hobbs57
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 12:35pmThat’s the reason I moved out of Florida and back to Pittsburgh. As much as I loved the weather, had a great paying job, I couldn’t take the heavy immigration of the Haitians and even dealing with them was impossible. I recall going to their homes to do side work in Miramar, and telling them the price before I got there, repeating the price before I started, then after I finish clearing the drain, they want to negotiate with me and only pay a portion of the agreed price. These folks are something else. Especially when it comes to driving, the hit and runs, the cutting you off. I had a Haitian become enraged over an incident where I had the right of way, but he obviously didn’t think so. He followed me and went bizurk. No offense and I am not being racially insensitive, but the guy looked and acted like an Angry Gorilla. I mean he was wailing around, yelling in Creole, jumping up and down, as his wife then jumped in the mix and was also trying to attack me. They both kept on trying to physically attack me, so I had enough after he tried to choke me, I went in my truck and grabbed my 36″ aluminum pipe wrench. Yes, he ran after that, but only to his car where I really believe he was contemplating getting a gun out. All the while, their young children are in the car watching this. This is why I tried to calm them down from the start and even apologize to them for whatever it was they were so upset about. They wouldn’t have it. He picked up a news stand and threw it at me. Co
Report Post »sixtysix
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 2:05pmThese wolf pups were raised by the liberal mind set that says what is yours is mine. We deserve it. The OWS group is the example of rot rising to the top. But, it started with politicians and leaders who told people that people who earn money owe those who don’t; doesn’t matter how much one man tries and another one does not. The one not trying is told that the hard worker somehow earned his money at the expense of the lay-about. They are no longer willing to wait for the money to be taken by the gov’t and given to them; they now want to take it by force themselves.
Report Post »romill4
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 4:38pmDidn’t obama let them vote in the last eledtion? I know that thousands of “supplemental” checks were sent to prisoners by the obama administration allegedly “in error’
Report Post »ohtoky
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 7:25pmHuman? Nah, not on the order of Adam and Eve. They’re an ape like animal and most are still wild. I wish the white man had stayed out of Africa. It would be fun to watch them kill and eat each other.
Report Post »rightwingextremist57
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 10:48amWhy is it that every story lately about people behaving badly (robbery, theft, fighting and in public, rioting) involve BLACK people?
Report Post »NOTAMUSHROOM
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 11:10amAnd mass homicides, drownings, death by car are committed by Muslims.
Report Post »shogun459
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 11:14amREPLY TO RIGHTWINGEXTREMIST57
NOT True, 99.9% of the OWS rioters are WASA’s (White Anglo Saxon Atheist’s).
Report Post »The Dude that fillet his friends 9 yr old little girl (may he burn in hell) was white.
I know of no serial killer that was NOT white, but that may be the MSM’s fault.
I would go on but to belabor this point would just be macabra, or grotesque.
Are you sure your Really are a Right winger? Or are you just Posing?
nichevo
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 11:23amThat’s just the way the Blaze rolls. It’s a pattern you see..
Report Post »full_devil
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 11:49amBlack serial killers? Wayne Williams
Report Post »http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Williams
drattastic
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 11:59amSHOGUN
Report Post »I think you need to do a little more research on the serial killer thing. The most sensationalized serial killers are white but serial killing is by no means exclusively a white phenomenon.
Cida
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 12:04pm@ SHOGUN459
Report Post »http://www.theroot.com/multimedia/gallery-meet-6-black-serial-killers
Behind the myth that only white men commit such crimes.
The following black men are among the most prolific serial killers in U.S. history.
Anthony Sowell Jake Bird
Andre Crawford Lorenzo Gilyard
Cleophus Prince Wayne Williams
I Stand With Israel….Am Israel
ZenJedi
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 1:15pm@shogun459 “I know of no serial killer that was NOT white” – You may not recall BUT the DC shooter he was BLACK. There was another in I believe Cinninati who eat his neighbors. While I agree the majority have been white in the USA, there is no race on earth that has not had it share of serial killers. If you take AFRICA for instance serial killing is done through TRIBAL GENOCIDE and even JAPAN is not immuned. Just saying…
Report Post »Preacher Cruz
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 2:21pmI am getting SO sick of the racist nonsense! It has NOTHING to do with the color of the skin and EVERYTHING to do with the Liberal destruction of urban families. IF these thugs had a father in their lives who was worth anything and would actually love them AND discipline them we wouldn’t see all this crap! PLEASE read or listen to Race In America & The Bible http://kjv-truth-ministries.org/?page_id=50 Race is an artificial construct of godless Atheist evolutionists to divide us. We are all descendants of Adam & Eve…
Report Post »romill4
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 4:40pmBecause they know our attorney general, eric holder, goes easy on his own people whether they are guilty or not.
Report Post »knightelliott
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 10:47amHang the two animals. Give the Marine all the care he needs free of charge. Oh, and post the hanging of the animals on every media site. Destroy the animals. Don’t waste any tax paying dollars on the filth.
Report Post »dealer@678
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 11:15amHolder will have em out by November to cast their vote
Report Post »NDPINDNT
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 12:03pmIt‘s all the evil whitman’s fault for what they did. We just don’t understand.
Report Post »IronSights
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 12:23pmI have mixed emotions on this. It‘s pretty much proven that rehabilitation doesn’t work. They just come out of jail with additional skills for their trade. The more I think about how heartless their action was I‘m inclined to think they should be strung up and used as pinata’s.
Report Post »MetalPatriot
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 3:15pm@Knightelliot
Agreed. I love pinatas. Don’t mean to be a downer, but I think this behavior crosses all races. I don‘t know what’s better: a street thug or a corrupt government. PINATAS ALL AROUND!
Report Post »bigal54
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 6:11pmNot real bright to sell gold to strangers. Still, string em up.
Report Post »chfields62
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 6:21pmWe need to go back to the days of the old west….you shoot someone, or steal from them or whatever, you are convicted then hung, no appeals, no sitting in jail for years getting free food, health care and anything they want….convict and hang…guaranteed to drop the crime rate….
Report Post »olddog
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 10:40amWe have to hear the leftist media’s take on this, how the 2 black were attacked by the marine and only defended themselves..Come on msnbc,cnn,abc,cbs,nbc,pbs and the rest, lets hear it.
Report Post »I was just reading where that woamn senator shot in Az. how the DOJ was afraid someone would find out it was one of the guns they put on the street..Why does Holder still have a job???
TomFerrari
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 11:12am“If he didn‘t have a pistol I would’ve whipped his butt”
hmmm…
IF YOU HAD A PISTOL, YOU WOULD’VE SHOT HIS BUTT INSTEAD OF GETTING SHOT !
I’m just sayin.
Report Post »romill4
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 4:44pmWhy do you think Holder still has a job? Because obama backs him all the way. That’s why he appointed him.
Report Post »trymaik
Posted on December 30, 2011 at 10:59amWhen we clean out the corruption with this administration, Nov. 2012 Holder will be unemployed too !!
Report Post »Mil Mom
Posted on January 17, 2012 at 2:07amThe AZ Senator wasn’t the only one shot with a Fast & Furious Gun. I just read that the AZ Police Officer shot & killed last week was with a F&F gun too! How many more are yet to come?
Report Post »Detroit paperboy
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 10:38amI guess they made the fine little Democrat on the right, remove the bone thru his nose before the mug shot was taken ???
Report Post »V-MAN MACE
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 10:37amHe isn’t superman, he has mental and physical training that allowed him to keep his wits and perform actions that left undone would have cost him his life, and that an average person wouldn’t have the capacity to perform.
Report Post »Detroit paperboy
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 10:33amSweet and cuddly little Obama supporters, it must be a mistake… That returning marine is probably a terror threat anyway… Call big sis Napolitano, or Holder, hell he probably gave em the gun, cuz they’re his people…
Report Post »obersaber
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 10:33am“Security is mostly a superstition.
It does not exist in nature,
nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. . .
Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run
than outright exposure. . .
Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”
~Helen Keller (1880 – 1968)
Report Post »AmericanStrega
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 7:05pmHelen Keller was a communist . Really.
Report Post »piper60
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 10:30amNot too surprised that this happened to be honest. Selling jewelry on crags list is dangerous. Having said that, however, the guy is a hero. Period.
Report Post »oldguy49
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 10:37amin florida we have carry and know how to use them………why didn’t this marine have one
Report Post »Salamander
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 10:51amSounds like stealing jewelry on Craigslist is dangerous, too–when you pick on a Marine! Semper Fi
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 11:01amNo kidding, why would anyone think that’s a safe way to sell anything valuable? Meet them inside a bank or a courthouse at least.
Report Post »azjeff1963
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 12:48pmwhen i Buy/sell stuff on craigslist and the people come to do the exchange i carry concealed just in case. you just never know these days.
Report Post »rich66
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 2:20pmIf he does not have a CHL I bet it is because his wife protested against having those dangerous guns in the house.
She probably watched too much Oprah.
Report Post »BTDT
Dirty Harry
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 10:29amGood gosh, the one on the left has tractor tires for lips.
Report Post »jas0707
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 11:23amAnd IQ’s of Maggots.
Report Post »Abraham Young
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 10:24amDidn’t the Pres say that everyone is better off when you share the wealth?
Report Post »Detroit paperboy
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 10:22amHe must have got in a few puches, looks like he gave em both a fat lip…
Report Post »MONICNE
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 10:21amThis Is a true gyrene who is too tough to die!
He will outlive the heroics of Chesty Puller!
TEA
Report Post »SgtB
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 10:20amAnd idiots of the world question why I believe that every man should have, know how to use, and carry a firearm at all times. Unfortunately, our politicians elected by an ignorant and gov’t educated public do not believe that our second amendment stems from a natural human right anymore and they believe it is within their power to take our rights away. Even when a veteran is faced with two thugs and a gun where he works, he is not safe from prosecution and imprisonment. Just look at the Jerome Ersland case in OKC. The judge and jury in that case should lose all of their voting priveleges for the remainder of their lives or face deportment to Cuba or N. Korea.
Report Post »cemerius
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 10:34am@Sgt B I agree with you to a certain point, but, just recently a 20 something was “secureing” his rifle and it just happened to go off penetrate a wall in his house and kill a 2 year old toddler! There are certain people that even after extensive training should NEVER own, possess, or dream about owning a gun! Wish they would label the deaths accordingly when a person “dies while cleaning their gun” to just what it is suicide!!!
Report Post »Hyena
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 10:18amHoly Crap! This guy is BADA$$!! :-)
Report Post »Detroit paperboy
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 10:18amThose two poor boys, they look like fine , young Democrats to me…. Poor babies.
Report Post »Dosrios
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 10:18am20 years old… I guess that disqualifies the media’s labelling them “teens.”
Report Post »pavnvet
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 10:17amGet well soon and then get yourself a Concealed Carry Permit and gun.
Report Post »MidWestMom
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 10:33amditto that
Report Post »TRONINTHEMORNING
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 10:17amGod bless you and your family. Heal up real soon.
Report Post »Gary Fishaholic
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 10:27amDitto!
Report Post »Jenny Lind
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 10:54amMe, too.
Report Post »Detroit paperboy
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 10:15amIts shocking, those two Obama voters looked like such fine young products of our government run schools…. Shocking, just shocking…. I wonder if their families are on any sort of government benefits ? Like housing , foodstamps, welfare checks, medicaid, school lunches.. Highly doubtful, just fine upstanding little Democrats….
Report Post »CanteenBoy
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 10:14amAnimals. They regard other’s lives as their parents regarded theirs.
Report Post »CaffeineJunkie
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 10:35amSad but true!
Report Post »JLGunner
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 10:07amLook at those fine citizens. I know there is a relative out there that would praise these young savages for being “good boys” and “they would never bother anyone” and of course the old reliable “this is a total shock to me”.
I ask you, where did they get the gun? Find the previous owner and get some answers. Attempted murder with a discharged firearm = Death Penalty
Report Post »SingerGuy
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 11:49amThose charges would only be filed if the Marine had a legal concealed carry and shot the punk thugs.
Report Post »Charles
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 2:12pmThey will be out of prison or jail in no time. Less than 3 years for sure. They’ll get a 10 to 15 year sentence and be paroled in 2.
Report Post »cemerius
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 10:03amSemper Fi Brother and I hope for a speedy recovery!!
Report Post »shagstar
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 10:51amoooh rah!
Report Post »I.Gaspar
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 10:01amWhen Trenker is fully healed, he should be allowed to pay each of them back in person…to within an inch of their lives. These two animals deserve to suffer.
Report Post »Darla_K
Posted on December 28, 2011 at 11:08amI knew the players before I saw them. I am hearing alot of stories like this. To bad the marine wasn’t packing.
Report Post »