Kyle Gilmartin knows he is blessed to be alive.
“I took two bullets to the head. There's no medical explanation for it. There's no logical explanation for it,” the wounded Scranton Police detective said of his survival during an interview Thursday at U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright’s office in Washington, D.C. “The only explanation I have is that, you know, it just wasn't my time. And God was looking out for me that night."
Gilmartin described how his deep faith has carried him and his family through the past two months.
Gilmartin was critically wounded on Jan. 11 in a “gang-related” shooting in West Scranton. He was discharged from a Philadelphia-area rehab hospital last Friday.
Tonight, Gilmartin is in the nation’s capital, where he will attend President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address as Cartwright’s guest.
Gilmartin and wife, Lindsay, met with the congressman in Cartwright’s office before a private dinner ahead of the speech. He spoke lovingly and with gratitude of the support that people from around the region have shown him and his family since the shooting — from fundraisers to the warm welcome he was given at a homecoming outside Scranton Police Department headquarters last Friday.
“I just think it's a testament to the type of people that we have in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Any time there's a tragedy or anytime there's somebody down, everybody works together to lift us back up,” Gilmartin said. “Without the community support, I don't think I'd be where I am today because I'm progressing quite rapidly in my rehabilitation."
Cartwright echoed that sentiment.
“Kyle Gilmartin and his story are just such an uplifting tale of our whole area and the way we care for each other,” he said.
WVIA News will watch the speech with Lindsay Gilmartin from Cartwright’s office. Check back for more.
