For the third time in 21 months, an LDS missionary has been shot near Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Elder Mike Cates, 20, Salt Lake City, was shot in the leg Friday by a man Argentine police say was drunk and may have been involved in other area shootings, said Dale Bills, spokesman for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.After spending the weekend at a Buenos Aires hospital, Cates was released Monday and was resting at the Buenos Aires South mission home.
"(Mission) President Stephen Oveson said Elder Cates was in good spirits," and hopes to be out working by week's end, Bills said.
The shooting occurred about 5:30 p.m. while Elder Cates and his companion, Elder Pablo Aranda of Chile, were proselyting in the El Jaugel section of Montegrande, a town outside of Buenos Aires.
Elders Cates and Arnada were knocking on a door when the gunman confronted the two missionaries and ordered them to leave the area, Bills said.
When the missionaries asked why they had to leave, the man pulled out a .22-caliber pistol, pointed the weapon toward the ground and fired three shots. One of the slugs struck Elder Cates below the right knee, Bills said.
It's unknown if the bullet ricocheted off the ground or directly struck Elder Cates.
The gunman then reportedly jumped on a bike and fled.
The two elders were able to wave down a taxi and go to an area hospital. Although the slug lodged in a bone, X-rays showed the bone was not shattered. For now, doctors have opted to leave the bullet in Elder Cates' leg, Bills said.
"The wound was closed and Elder Cates has been receiving antibiotics," Bills said.
The alleged gunman was later picked up by police and is being held pending a judicial proceeding. Police believe the same man shot at a woman standing outside a streetside retail store about the same time that Elder Cates was shot, and may have been involved in a third shooting in the area, Bills said.
The woman outside the store was not injured.
Elder Cates is the third missionary to be shot near the Argentinian capital in the past two years.
In October 1997, missionary Daniel Lawson was shot in the face during a robbery attempt on the streets of Buenos Aires. Lawson returned to Salt Lake City where the bullet was removed without complications
Orin Voorheis, Pleasant Grove, was critically wounded in a shooting that left him brain damaged.
Church leaders are concerned for the welfare of missionaries serving in Argentina, as they are for all missionaries, Bills said. But there is no evidence any of the Argentine shooting victims were targeted because of the church or their nationality.
Missionaries throughout the world are instructed to carry little money, avoid traveling or proselyting with valuables and, above all, use common sense, Bills said.