Vallejo Man Forgives Friend After Being Shot
VALLEJO (CBS 5) – A Solano County man who was allegedly shot by a lifelong friend reached out to him with a message of forgiveness from his hospital bed.
Cody Hassler of Vallejo said he couldn't ever imagine staring down the barrel of a gun held by Sammy Turner, a man he calls his best friend.
"It would be the last thing I would ever expect," Hassler said. "I was like, 'You're not gonna shoot me.'"
Hassler said an argument at his home three weeks ago turned violent when Turner, an avid hunter, pulled a gun.
"I looked down and noticed there was a hole in my shirt," Hassler recalled.
He said Turner is battling a mental illness.
Tiffany Johnson, Hassler's mother said, "He just came in here and said, 'Mommy I've been shot.' And he just went down."
Hassler was rushed to a hospital after the shooting. But even as he laid in a hospital bed with a bullet in his back, he could only think about Turner.
Johnson said, "As soon as he came out of surgery, one of the first things he said, 'Where's Sammy?'"
As police were closing in on Turner, Hassler and his mother made a video from his hospital bed.
"Bro, it's Cody. I love you, bro, just come out," Hassler said in the video. "I forgive you bro. I love you. Everything's gonna be ok."
The video was uploaded to YouTube, with Hassler hoping Turner would see it and surrender.
"I knew he wasn't in his right mind and I didn't want him to do something stupid," he said.
After a standoff with police, Turner turned himself in. He is in custody, facing charges of attempted murder.
While Hassler said his physical wounds are healing, he hopes Turner's emotional wounds will heal as well. "I want him to eventually get his head straight and be normal and live a normal life," he said.
Hassler said he has not talked to Turner since the shooting, but said he would be willing to go to a judge to ask for a reduced sentence.
(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
