268,558
total hearts received for Moments That Survive

Melinda Stanton

I was shot four times by my husband on January 3, 1988. I was taken on a country road with the pretense that he wanted to talk to me about getting our divorce. We both worked at the local hospital, together in the same department. I did not have any reason to fear him. He had never been violent in our marriage. We had only been married 11 months at the time. He never raised his voice at me.

Well, the morning of the incident, my husband came to my apartment. I was coming to my car at the time. He surprised me by being there. We had been separated for a week. He said, “I need to talk to you about our divorce.” I said, “Well, we will have to talk at work.” I went around him and jumped in the car. He got in the car with me. When we got to the hospital parking lot, he pulled out the gun and directed me to the country road, where he shot me four times. Left me for dead. He ran and left me. I drove the car for help.

Reacting shows support for gun violence survivors.

268,558