Man's Death Ruled Homicide 35 Years After Shooting

Updated 1:47 PM CST, Tue, Jan 6, 2009

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The Tarrant County medical examiner's office has ruled the death of a man a homicide after he died of complications from a shooting 35 years before.

Craig Buford lived a normal life after recovering from a 1973 shooting by another teenager over a gambling dispute in Denver.

The medical examiner's office says the 54-year-old man's December 29th death was caused by multiple organ failure. He was hospitalized a few days before his death, and doctors determined his colon had ruptured. He underwent surgery before he died.

Once Buford healed after the shooting, his relatives said he had few lasting effects. He drove city buses in Denver and Seattle and was a truck driver before retiring. He moved to Fort Worth about a year ago.

"He never had any serious health problems, so I was a little surprised to hear all this homicide business after all these years," said Buford's wife, Carolyn Buford.

Carolyn Buford said she didn't know her husband at the time of the shooting but that he had told her about it. She said he had gone to school to pick up a girlfriend for lunch and started gambling with other teens. She said he won some money, and the other teens wanted their money back. When Craig Buford refused and began to leave, he was shot in the back.

According to a Denver newspaper article, Craig Buford drove himself to the hospital, where he identified a 17-year-old as the shooter.

Craig Buford didn't dwell on the shooting, his wife said.

"He ran into the guy one time, and he said the guy was kind of scared about seeing him," Carolyn Buford said. "He told him, 'Just forget about it. It's over with."'

Buford's mother, Mary Benson, says she thought the man who shot her son received probation in a plea agreement. A Denver police spokesman says he couldn't find a resolution of the case but probably wouldn't be able to comment because it involved juveniles.

Officials say homicide rulings in such cases are rare but not unprecedented. David Gunby's 2001 death was ruled a homicide caused by complications from a gunshot wound he received in the 1966 University of Texas Tower shootings.

By the time Charles Whitman was shot and killed by authorities on the tower's observation deck, 16 people had died. Gunby was among the 31 others wounded.