Park Hill Grad Shot While Working In Iraq
Parents Think 22-Year-Old Will Want To Go Back To Middle East

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A 22-year-old Platte County man working in Iraq was shot on the streets of Baghdad Wednesday. Scott Erwin survived, but two people with him did not, KMBC's Tom Corvin reported.

Erwin (pictured, left) graduated from Park Hill High School in 2000. He had one year to go at the University of Richmond when he landed a job he couldn't turn down -- working to help the reconstruction of Iraq. Working with university students, Erwin founded a program called Ambassadors of Democracy. He was leaving a university in Baghdad with two security guards and an interpreter when a car stopped them and opened fire. The guards were killed, but Erwin survived with wounds to both his arms and his abdomen.

Erwin's parents said they worried about his safety from the moment he arrived in Iraq.

"There were a couple of times talking to him on the phone and there were mortar shells going off in the background," Erwin's father said.

One of the guards killed was Erwin's friend, and his parents are worried about how he will react.

"That's probably what we're most concerned about is the emotional damage, but he's going to want to go back," his father said.

"I think he'll want to go back. I'm not sure I'll let him," Erwin's mother said. "I want to touch him and make sure he's OK and tell him I'll be with him every step of the way."

Erwin's arms are shattered; his liver, stomach and colon pierced; and his spleen was removed. His parents hope to meet him in Germany, then go on to Walter Reed Hospital in Maryland with their son.

From: http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/kmbctv/3384609/detail.html