Pathologist: Bolsa massacre victims had little chance

All three victims of Calgary’s New Year’s Day massacre stood little chance of surviving their gunshot wounds, a pathologist testified Friday.

Dr. Sam Andrews said head wounds suffered by innocent bystander Keni Su’a and gang associate Aaron Bendle would’ve certainly been fatal.

And Andrews said only immediate medical treatment could have possibly saved gangster Sanjeev Mann from the bullet that pierced his aorta.

Andrews, Calgary’s former deputy chief medical officer, was giving evidence at the triple murder trial of Calgarian Real Honorio.

Honorio faces three counts of first-degree murder in the Jan. 1, 2009 deaths of Mann, Bendle and Su’a.

Both Mann and Bendle were shot inside the Bolsa restaurant off Macleod Tr. S.,

Su’a, a regular at the eatery, was shot outside while fleeing the mayhem.

Andrews said all three suffered multiple gunshot wounds, which caused their deaths.

He told Crown prosecutor Susan Karpa it was Mann who was hit the most times, although only one of his wounds was a fatal one.

Mann was struck by seven bullets, although three were stopped by the bullet resistant vest he was wearing at the time, Andrews said.

Three others caused non-fatal wounds, but one projectile entered between his eighth and ninth ribs, cut through a lung and pierced his aorta, the main artery sending blood from his heart to the rest of his body.

“This is a rapidly fatal injury,” said Andrews, via video link from Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he now practices.

Andrews said Bendle was shot twice in the top of his head, with one of the bullets lodging in his lower back.

“They were equally fatal,” Andrews said.

The bullet found near Bendle’s second to last rib followed a straight path, he said.

Possibly he was lying (down), or bent over a table, for example.”

Su’a was struck three times, two which caused his death, Andrews testified.

One bullet entered his right cheek before exiting his upper left scalp area, while a second, shot in into his back, struck his spine.

“The gunshot wound to the head would’ve been more rapidly fatal, but both were fatal,” Andrews said,

The bullet to Su’a’s back was fired with the barrel of the gun pressed against the victim’s skin, he said.

Honorio’s trial, entered week two on Monday.