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Former Fall River mayor says he was ‘inches from death’ after violent attack
“I know this: I will never take another day for granted. I will love deeper. I will forgive quicker. I will live louder.”
Former Fall River Mayor Will Flanagan said he will “never take another day for granted” after coming “face to face with death” last week during a brutal stabbing.
The shocking attack left Flanagan with a punctured trachea, according to Fall River officials, who said first responders found Flanagan seriously wounded near his Hartwell Street business, Cosmopolitan Dispensary.
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His alleged assailant, 31-year-old Corree Gonzales, has pleaded not guilty to charges of armed assault with intent to murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury. Gonzales was also charged with assaulting four Fall River police officers following his arrest and has been ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation.
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“A man, lost in psychosis, stabbed me multiple times — in my face, in my body, and in my neck,” Flanagan said in a statement posted to Facebook, his first since the Oct. 20 attack. “I can still feel the weight of those moments. The sound. The fear. The realization that I might never see my family again. That I might never tell my family I loved them one last time.”
He recalled falling to the ground and praying for one more breath.
“I was inches from death — and yet somehow, God said ‘Not today,’” Flanagan added. He also credited the emergency crews and medical personnel who ran toward danger and fought to keep him alive, whom he described as “angels on Earth.”
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“They didn’t just save my life,” Flanagan said. “They gave me back my future.”
He noted the community outreach and messages of love and support he’s received while on the mend, adding, “You’ve shown me that even when evil tries to take something good from this world, love always fights back. Yes the world has a lot of evil in it but good will always conquer the tyranny of evil.”
Flanagan, who served as mayor between 2010 and 2014, also said his brush with death helped put things in perspective.
“I don’t know why I was spared,” he acknowledged. “But I know this: I will never take another day for granted. I will love deeper. I will forgive quicker. I will live louder.”
Read Flanagan’s full message:
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