Senior shot in Mexico returns to B.C.

Mike DiLorenzo's leg was shattered Jan. 16 when a stray bullet hit him in the leg while walking with his wife outside a shopping mall in Mazatlan, a city on Mexico's west coast. The man who was the target of the shooting was killed.

DiLorenzo's family, local politicians and Foreign Affairs Canada worked for more than a week to get him and his wife home.

He said he was, "much, much relieved and much, much happy to come home."

The DiLorenzos were scheduled to depart late Wednesday on a private medevac jet, direct from Mexico.

Doctors put a steel bar in DiLorenzo's leg to replace the destroyed bone.

"I was a very healthy man, and now I'm crippled," DiLorenzo told CBC News in a telephone interview Wednesday. "The doctors said I can't put my leg down in any way. If I do then I will be having lots of complications."

The doctors say DiLorenzo, 69, won't be able to walk properly for another four or five months. But he said he was grateful and pleased with the care he received.

"All the people are so friendly, so caring," he said. "The doctors are really top of the line, checking me out, every little thing in my body."