Well Known Liberal Blogger Shot In Washington, D.C.
By Greg Sargent - July 2, 2008, 3:33PM
Brian Beutler, a well-known progressive blogger, was shot and seriously injured during a mugging last night in Washington, D.C.
One bullet damaged Beutler's spleen, and he had it removed during surgery this morning at the Washington Hospital Center. He's expected to make a "pre-trauma" recovery, which is to say, a completely full recovery.
The shooting was confirmed to us by Tracy Van Slyke, the project director of the Media Consortium, a network of leading progressive news organizations (TPM is a member) for which Beutler is the Washington correspondent.
Some of the details of the incident are still sketchy. According to Van Slyke, Beutler was walking with a friend after leaving a bar in Washington's Adams Morgan section when the two were confronted by a man demanding their cell phones near 17th Street and Euclid Street.
It's unclear as yet what happened, but the man fired several shots at Beutler. One bullet hit him in the spleen and he was hit twice in the shoulder. A D.C. police official said he wasn't aware of any arrests made in connection with the shooting.
Beutler's companion called 9-11. After getting rushed to the hospital by ambulance, Beutler underwent surgery.
Beutler's family is with him now at the hospital, and his friends are anxiously keeping track of his recovery.
"He is currently in stable condition, awake and in pain," Van Slyke wrote in an email to colleagues. "But, true to form, he is already cracking jokes."
According to Van Slyke, Beutler was supposed to file a piece with the Consortium today. In his first words today to his editor, Adele Stan, he said dryly: "Sorry. I left you high and dry."
