neck. Downs got into the basement and secured the door, denying the attacker entry into the Blair House. Torresola moved to the shoot-out between his partner Collazo and several other police officers, shooting officer Donald Birdzell in the left knee. Birdzell could no longer stand and was effectively incapacitated, although he would later recover. Torresola was standing to the left of the Blair House steps to reload when President Truman looked outside his second floor window, from the attacker. Secret Service agents shouted at Truman to get away from the window. At that same moment, Coffelt left the guard booth, propped against it, and fired his .38-caliber service revolver at Torresola, about away. Coffelt hit Torresola above the ear, killing him instantly. Coffelt limped back to the booth and blacked out. Taken to the hospital, Coffelt died four hours later. The gunfight involving Torresola lasted approximately 20 seconds, while the gunfight with Collazo lasted approximately 38.5 seconds. Only one of Collazo's shots hit anyone, largely because Collazo was not a skilled or experienced gunman. Torresola, an expert shooter, did most of the shooting and inflicted almost all of the injuries on the Secret Service officers. Afterwards, Truman commented that he was not frightened by the attack: since he was a combat veteran of the First World War, he "had [already] been shot at by professionals [i.e. German soldiers]." Aftermath President Truman and the Secretary of State Dean Acheson asked Coffelt's widow, Cressie E. Coffelt, to go to Puerto Rico, where she received condolences from various Puerto Rican leaders and crowds. Mrs. Coffelt responded with a speech absolving the island's people of blame for the acts of Collazo and Torresola. Oscar Collazo was convicted in federal court and sentenced to death, which Truman commuted to a life sentence. While in prison, he gave an interview telling of his long devotion to the Nationalist Party and cause of Puerto Rican independence. When he was a young man in 1932, he heard Pedro Albizu Campos give a speech about American imperialism, saying that American research doctor Cornelius P. Rhoads had written an outrageous letter appearing to brag about killing Puerto Ricans in experiments. In 1979, President Jimmy Carter commuted the sentence of Collazo to the time served, and the former revolutionary was released. He returned to live in Puerto Rico, where he died in 1994. At the time of the assassination attempt, the