Arizona Street Evangelist Returns to Preaching After Being Shot in the Head, “Because of His Love, I’m Still Here”

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A street evangelist who was shot in the head while sharing the Gospel in Glendale, Arizona last year has credited the love and grace of God for a remarkable recovery that defied his doctors’ expectations and allowed him to return to preaching, ABC15 reports.

Father of two and military veteran Hans Schmidt was preaching at the corner of 51st and Peoria avenues in Glendale on November 15, 2023, when the shooting happened. With a bullet in his brain, Schmidt was so severely injured that he was placed on life support and induced into a medical coma.

Schmidt was not expected to survive, his wife Zulya told ABC15 as she and her husband recounted the story of his shooting and recovery for the first time. “Even the neurosurgeon said, ‘Nothing we can do.’ The detective said, ‘We’ll know more after the autopsy.’ That’s kind of when it became real,” Zulya said. “There was no hope. Those days felt like really long. I was scared I’d never hear his voice again.”

However, after a month, Hans woke up and spoke for the first time. “It’s a miracle, absolutely a miracle,” Hans told ABC15. “I should not be alive, realistically, I should be dead. And because of His grace and His love, I’m still here.”

With fragments of a bullet still in his brain as it is too dangerous to remove them, Schmidt is back to preaching at the corner of 51st and Peoria avenues in Glendale, ABC15 said. He still has to have daily speech and occupational therapy but he is expected to be able to return to work a relatively normal life.

Concerning forgiveness for the attacker, Schmidt said: “I don’t think that holding a grudge against him is going to change anything. I think it’s important to forgive people. And I forgive him.”

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