Arrow In His Head? Miracle He Isn't Dead -- Injury Occurred During Men's Group Rite

PORTLAND - A man who was shot through the skull with an arrow when a friend tried to knock a fuel can off his head has miraculously avoided brain damage and soon will be released from the hospital.

Anthony Roberts lost his right eye in the Saturday-morning shooting, which occurred at the friend's Grants Pass, Ore., residence after they had been drinking.

But Roberts escaped brain damage and will be released in a few days, doctors said yesterday.

"If the arrow had been a millimeter closer to his nose, it would have severed major blood vessels, and Mr. Roberts could have died on the spot," said neurosurgeon Johnny Delashaw at University Hospital in Portland.

"I've never seen anything like it," Delashaw said. "The arrow went through 8 to 10 inches of brain, with the tip protruding at the rear of his skull, and it somehow missed any major blood vessel."

Surgeons removed the arrow by drilling a larger hole around the tip in back and pulling it through.

Roberts tried to describe what happened to him yesterday, saying the accident was part of an initiation into a rafting and outdoor group called Mountain Men Anonymous.

"I don't think that's a good initiation," Roberts said. "I think a hug would be better."

According to Josephine County sheriff's deputies, Roberts was at the home of Michael Kennedy and Kennedy tried to shoot a gallon-size Coleman fuel can off his head. Roberts never lost consciousness during the flight to University Hospital.

"I feel really stupid," Roberts said.

No charges have been filed. The Josephine County district attorney's office said the case is being evaluated.

"The paramedics saved Mr. Roberts," Delashaw said. "He kept trying to pull the arrow out, and they restrained him. If he had succeeded, the flanges slicing through his brain would have killed him instantly."