AMA Champ Miguel Duhamel Shot By Airgun-Wielding Lunatic In Las Vegas

He's recovering from the extremely weird incident at home.

01:57

Janaki Jitchotvisut

By: Janaki Jitchotvisut

Jun 24, 2020 at 1:30pm ET

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Like many racers, winningest AMA racer of all time Miguel Duhamel (that’s 86 wins throughout his career, if you’re counting) likes to ride his bicycle. He may be retired from professional racing, but he’s definitely not retired from personal fitness. As many people do, he went out for a ride on a nice Saturday, June 20, 2020.

Duhamel was riding near Red Rock Loop in Las Vegas, Nevada when he heard a car come up behind him. That alone wasn’t odd, he said. “A car came behind me like they always do but this one came up and I heard a shot, like air dispers[al], it went pow!”

“Immediately my head hurt, I felt a shot in my head and I was like what’s that and for a minute I thought maybe it’s nothing, but when I saw blood coming down, I knew something was up. So, I stopped,” Duhamel later told Fox 5 KVVU-TV reporters.

Paramedics treated Duhamel at the scene. As best as the medical team could tell, Duhamel was shot with a BB gun. A projectile went through his bicycle helmet and pierced his cycling cap underneath, causing the injury. There’s still a visible puncture wound on his head in the video, and when Duhamel talked to reporters, he said he could still feel swelling in the area.

Duhamel later said the car that sped away from the scene after shooting him was “a matte black Nissan 300Z”. (Side note: Did he mean a 300ZX? Or a more modern Nissan Z car? A “300Z” model does not exist, but I digress.) Las Vegas Metropolitan Police are investigating. Duhamel is recovering, as you can see in this video, but he’s still shaken by the entire weird incident.

What do you think?

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Other cyclists in the area are concerned, too. It’s a popular spot for cyclists to ride on weekend mornings, and cell phone reception isn’t good along that stretch of road. If something more serious happened, it could be difficult to get medical help to the scene with all necessary speed.

Sources: YouTube, Fox5 Vegas