Hector "Macho" Camacho, the
flamboyant boxer who awed fans with his quick
hands and ring antics, was shot and critically
wounded in Puerto Rico
Tuesday, authorities said.
Camacho was shot Tuesday in front of a bar in
Bayamon, Puerto Rico, police
said. Camacho, 50, was in the passenger seat of
a car and next to him was a
man who was shot twice and killed, police said.
Camacho was rushed to a nearby hospital, said
Dr. Ernesto Torres, of the
Centro Medico of Rio Piedras.
Torres told CNN affiliate WAPA TV the bullet
appeared to have entered the
left side of the boxer's face and is now lodged
in his right shoulder.
If Camacho survives his injuries he may have
trouble walking in future,
Torres said, because the bullet fractured two
vertebrae in his neck.
Camacho was born in Bayamon and raised in New
York. He fought
professionally for more than 25 years and last
fought in 2010.
During his career he beat such legendary boxers
as Roberto Duran and Sugar
Ray Leonard and he held several championships.
No one has yet been arrested over the shooting.
The former star of the ring was sitting in the
passenger seat of a black
Ford Mustang outside the "Azuquita"
bar when the shots were fired, WAPA TV
reported.
Capt. Rafael Rosa, of Bayamon Police,
identified the driver killed in the
attack as Adrian Mojica. He received one shot
to the neck and another to
the lower back.
The suspects are two men who are believed to
have been traveling in a gray
vehicle, said Lt. Wilfredo Rivera, of Cataño
Police. They escaped after a
shootout with police at a residential complex,
WAPA TV reported.
(Related)
Doctor: Camacho is brain dead
Famed Puerto Rican boxer Hector ''Macho''
Camacho is clinically brain dead,
doctors said Thursday, but family members
disagreed on whether to take him
off life support and two of the fighter's aunts
said later that relatives
had agreed to wait two more days.
Dr. Ernesto Torres said doctors had no more
medical tests to perform on
Camacho, who was shot in the face Tuesday
night.
''We have done everything we could,'' said
Torres, who is director of the
Centro Medico trauma center in San Juan. ''We
have to tell the people of
Puerto Rico and the entire world that Macho
Camacho has died, he is brain
dead.''
DRUGS FOUND
Police in Puerto Rico say they discovered
cocaine inside the car in which
Hector ''Macho'' Camacho was shot and
critically wounded.
He said at a news conference Thursday morning
that Camacho's father
indicated he wanted the boxer taken off life
support and his organs
donated, but other relatives opposed the idea.
''This is a very difficult moment,'' Torres
said.
One of the fighter's aunts, Aida Camacho, said
Thursday evening that two of
Camacho's sisters had asked to have two more
days to spend with him, and
other family members had agreed even though
they felt it was time to give
in.
''I'm a person of a lot of faith, and I believe
in miracles, but science
has spoken,'' she said.
Another aunt, Blanca Camacho, also said the family
had agreed to the wishes
of the two sisters from New York to hold off on
ending life support. But,
she added, ''There's nothing left here. He's
already dead.''
Most of Camacho's relatives left the hospital
by Thursday night without
commenting.
About a dozen people stood vigil outside. One,
Orvil Miller, a singer and
actor, expressed sadness about Camacho's fate
and recalled his admiration
for the fighter's flamboyance.
''He had the combination of the skills of a
boxer along with a great sense
for entertainment,'' Miller said.
Steve Tannenbaum, a friend and a former boxing
agent for Camacho, said in a
phone interview that he idolized Camacho as a
boxer.
''He is one of the greatest small fighters that
I have ever seen,'' he
said. ''Hector Camacho had a legendary
status.''
Tannenbaum said he initially believed Camacho
would survive. ''He was
almost like the indestructible man. He had so
many troubles with the law,
so many altercations in his life. It's a great
shame.''
The 50-year-old Camacho was shot as he and a
friend sat in a Ford Mustang
parked outside a bar Tuesday night. Police
spokesman Alex Diaz said
officers found nine small bags of cocaine in
the friend's pocket, and a
10th bag open inside the car. Camacho's friend,
identified as 49-year-old
Adrian Mojica Moreno, was killed in the attack.
THROUGH THE YEARS
Hector "Macho" Camacho had quite the
high-profile career.
Doctors had initially said Camacho was expected
to survive, but his
condition worsened and his heart stopped
briefly overnight Tuesday, Torres
said. The bullet entered his jaw and lodged in
his shoulder after tearing
through three of four main arteries in his
neck, affecting blood flow
through his brain, doctors said.
''That lack of oxygen greatly damaged Macho
Camacho's brain,'' Torres said.
Camacho was born in Bayamon, a city within the
San Juan metropolitan area,
but he grew up mostly in New York's Harlem
neighborhood, earning the
nickname ''the Harlem Heckler.''
He won super lightweight, lightweight and
junior welterweight world titles
in the 1980s and fought high-profile bouts
against Felix Trinidad, Julio
Cesar Chavez and Sugar Ray Leonard. Camacho
knocked out Leonard in 1997,
ending the former champ's final comeback
attempt. Camacho had a career
record of 79-6-3.
In recent years, he divided his time between
Puerto Rico and Florida,
appearing regularly on Spanish-language
television as well as on a reality
show called ''Es Macho Time!'' on YouTube. In
San Juan, he had been living
in the beach community of Isla Verde, where he
would readily pose for
photos with tourists who recognized him on the
street, said former pro
boxer Victor ''Luvi'' Callejas, a neighbor and
friend.
Camacho battled drugs, alcohol and other
problems throughout his life. He
was sentenced in 2007 to seven years in prison
for the burglary of a
computer store in Mississippi.
arresting him on the burglary charge in January
2005, police also found the
drug ecstasy.
A judge eventually suspended all but one year
of the sentence and gave
Camacho probation. He wound up serving two
weeks in jail, though, after
violating that probation.
His wife also filed domestic abuse complaints
against him twice before
their divorce several years ago.
Pro 16:27- An ungodly man diggeth up evil: and
in his lips [there is] as a
burning fire.
Rom 6:23- For the wages of sin [is] death; but
the gift of God [is] eternal
life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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