Matthew Lanske was out with friends in Belltown when he took three bullets after stepping into an armed robbery. He was 21 at the time. His sister, Rebecca Garberding, said two struck his stomach while the third shattered his pelvis and struck a major artery. The group had finished dinner on Sept. 6 and witnessed an illegal street takeover, his family said, before a man and two women tried to rob his friend at gunpoint near Clay and Denny streets.
That friend, Isaac Elijah Rios, was 20 and was shot as well. Two others stayed with him and called 911 while Lanske ran about a block looking for help. Rios reached a hospital alive but did not survive. “My brother had seen that, so he ran over to try to assist and get control of the gun, not only for his friend, but for the whole community and ended up getting hurt,” Garberding told KOMO.
Their mother, Shanda Barney, said her son walked two blocks bleeding before anyone reached him. Barney said her son tried a 7-Eleven and was turned away. She recounted him telling her the doors were locked and that he begged to be let in, believing he was about to die. Around the same time, she said, people nearby were filming him rather than stepping in.
He ended up saving himself
Garberding said she understands fear kept some people back, though she thinks someone could have dialed 911 or walked him somewhere safe. Lanske eventually sat down and texted 911 himself, along with his girlfriend. Officers found him and he went into emergency surgery. He spent two days on life support, unable to speak, and had a second operation to reconnect his intestines…