Forensic pathologist Dr Valery Alexandrov yesterday said he found a fragment less than the size of a five cent coin inside the liver of Bianca Charles.
Charles was killed during a shoot-out with police and gunmen last Thursday at Industrial Lane, Morvant. In an interview at the Forensic Science Centre yesterday, Alexandrov said: "She was shot behind a door. There is a lot of mess about the case of a stray bullet. The fragments of a bullet hit her three times. She was shot in the chest twice and once in the abdomen." He said Charles continued to lose a lot of blood while she had been receiving medical treatment from surgeons at the hospital. "Her blood pressure was good when she was admitted, but it began to fall because she was bleeding internally and she lost a lot of blood," Alexandrov said. He said Charles lost five litres of blood. "The doctors found a lot of blood and she had been bleeding from the lungs," he said.
Alexandrov said the doctors performed exploratory surgery, transfusion and other methods during the hours after she was shot. "There were no exit wounds on her body. This corresponds with the wounds. A vein was slightly lacerated in her abdomen." He said this was also repaired. Alexandrov said Charles right lung collapsed and filled with blood. Alexandrov said on Saturday he asked for her body to be returned to the centre and did an X-ray. He said he did not need permission to carry that procedure out.
"The fragment was in the liver. It was hidden deep inside but the doctors were trying to save her life," Alexandrov said. In a brief telephone interview acting police commissioner James Philbert said the investigations were promising. "I have spoken to senior officers and the investigations are moving at good pace and promising developments.
"The facts are is that there was an exchange of gunfire and ended it her death. We are getting along in the investigations on how she was shot. Now we are investigating whose firearms and what means," Philbert said.
