At left, Mr. Bhuiyan after he was shot.
CNN has more. Mark Anthony Stroman shot all of his victims while they were working at gas stations and convenience stores in Dallas, Texas. Unless there is an intervention, the still-unrepentant killer will be put to death by the state of Texas on July 20.
But Bhuiyan believes that the man who shot him should not be killed, and has created the worldwithouthate.org project to urge Texas to spare his life.
From Bhuiyan’s website:
It was Friday 12:30pm, September 21, 2001. A man with a gun entered the gas station where I was working. He asked me, “Where are you from?”
The question seemed strange to ask during a robbery, which certainly this was — the man wore a bandana, sunglasses and a baseball cap, and aimed the gun directly at my face as I stood over the gas station register. “Excuse me?” I asked. As soon as I spoke I felt the sensation of a million bees stinging my face, and then heard an explosion. Images of my mother, my father, my siblings and my fiancé appeared before my eyes, and then, a graveyard. I didn’t know if I were still alive. I looked down at the floor and saw blood pouring like an open faucet from the side of my head. Frantically, I placed both hands on my face, thinking I had to keep my brains from spilling out. I heard myself screaming, “Mom!” The gunman was still standing there. I thought, “If I don’t pretend I’m dead, he’ll shoot me again.”
NPR had an earlier story here. Bhuiyan wrote an op-ed in the Dallas Morning News, here. The paper’s editor wrote more here. Related item at ACLU.org here.
