When paramedics Richard Fredrickson and Ernest Malagamba arrived at the Days Inn lobby at 12:05 PM, Selena had no detectable pulse and was clinically dead. Emergency crews immediately applied chest compressions and rushed her to Corpus Christi Memorial Hospital, arriving in the emergency trauma bay at 12:10 PM.
Cardiovascular surgeon Dr. Louis Elkins led an aggressive resuscitation effort. Surgical teams opened her chest cavity, performed direct internal cardiac massage, and administered multiple blood transfusions to replace the catastrophic volume lost through the severed artery. While surgeons briefly restored an erratic heartbeat, the extensive blood loss had starved her vital organs of oxygen.
At 1:05 PM, medical personnel ceased resuscitation attempts. Selena was pronounced dead just sixteen days shy of her 24th birthday. The autopsy later confirmed that the fatal round had exited through the right chest wall, causing catastrophic hemorrhagic shock within minutes of the discharge.
