Blacksburg, Va. – The image hinted at the horror that unfolded: a Virginia Tech student, sprawled and bloody, in the arms of others who struggled to carry him to safety.
The near-death ordeal of senior Kevin Sterne was captured in that photograph that played in newspapers across the country.
Sterne was among the dozens of students shot in Norris Hall classrooms Monday. He was in stable condition Tuesday, and doctors credited his quick thinking.
Doctors said Sterne is a former Eagle Scout who kept enough cool to fashion a tourniquet from an electrical cord after a bullet tore a inch-long gash through the femoral artery of his right leg.
“The patient that I took care of was an incredible guy,” said Dr. David Stoeckle, chief of surgery at Montgomery Regional Hospital. “He was bleeding significantly … he knew he was bleeding to death.”
Sterne’s parents told reporters Tuesday their 6-foot-2 son was the student in the photo. He still has a bullet fragment in his right femur, they said, and doctors haven’t determined whether they need to remove it.
Nine students remained hospitalized Tuesday at Montgomery Regional Hospital, all of them stable, chief executive Scott Hill said. Two others had been transferred to a Level 1 trauma center in Roanoke, one in critical condition and the other in serious condition.
Lewis-Gale Medical Center in Salem had three remaining patients, all in stable condition, with one expected to be discharged later Tuesday, Hill said.
