Shots Fired Trivia Quiz

Answer: Curly Howard

Curly, born Jerome Horwitz, was saved by his older brother, Moe, who rushed him to the hospital. The injury resulted in Curly developing a lifelong limp, which became all the more noticeable when he worked it into his act with the Three Stooges.

Answer: Andy Warhol

Warhol was at The Factory when Valerie Solanas entered and shot him and an art critic before attempting to shoot Warhol's manager. Solanas penned the 'S.C.U.M. Manifesto,' a radical feminist critique of patriarchal culture which called for the 'Society of Cutting Up Men (S.C.U.M.).' Solanas was convinced that Warhol was attempting to steal her work and the shooting forever changed Warhol's life, as he nearly died, had to undergo hours of surgery, and was forced to forever wear a surgical corset.

Answer: Dick Cheney

In February 2006, Dick Cheney was hunting for quail with his friend, 78-year-old attorney Harry Whittington, when he accidentally shot Mr. Whittington in the head, neck and torso with birdshot on the private Texas ranch where they were hunting. Attorney Whittington suffered a heart attack and had to undergo surgery due to a pellet being logged in his chest, but he was able to make a full recovery.

Answer: 50 Cent

50 Cent, born Curtis Jackson III, was shot 9 times in April 2000, while leaving his grandmother's home in South Jamaica, Queens. The bullets struck his hand, hip, left cheek, chest, arm, and both of his legs. It took 5 months for him to fully recover but he ended up signing a record deal while recovering in the hospital.

Answer: Marvin Gaye

After completing a tour, Gaye moved into his parents' home in Los Angeles to recuperate and deal with his growing depression. The tumultuous relationship he had with his father became more volatile over the following six months. Gaye gave his father a pistol for Christmas in 1983, for protection, and it was in April of 1984 that a fight erupted between father and son regarding a lost insurance policy letter. Gaye and his father physically fought and then Gaye's father grabbed the pistol and fatally shot Marvin twice in the chest.

Answer: William S. Burroughs

Burroughs moved in with his future common-law wife, Joan Vollmer, in 1944, but their relationship turned tumultuous almost instantly, as they each acquired serious addictions and had a volatile relationship. Burroughs was addicted to heroin, while Vollmer was an alcoholic and amphetamine addict.

It remains questionable precisely how Vollmer was shot; Burroughs claimed that he dropped the gun and it fired, while others claimed that Burroughs told Vollmer to place a highball glass on her head so they could enact their 'William Tell' act (a claim that Burroughs denies). Burroughs was found guilty of homicide at trial.

Answer: Gerald Ford

Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981 by John Hinckley, Jr. and he received life threatening injuries that required emergency surgery. Multiple attempts were made on Lenin's life, but it was in 1918 that he was shot while campaigning.
The most interesting of these stories is Theodore Roosevelt's, as he was shot in the chest by a bar owner while campaigning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The bullet went through the 50 page speech Teddy was holding against his chest, as well as his steel glasses case. Even more shocking, Roosevelt refused to go to the hospital until he had delivered all 50 pages of his speech, which took 90 minutes.

While an attempt was made on Gerald Ford's life by Squeaky Fromme, a Manson family member, Ford was not struck by the bullet and Fromme was immediately subdued and arrested.

Answer: Peter Fonda

The bullet passed through Fonda's heart and settled underneath it, and it was a medical near miracle that Fonda did not die from the injury. Fonda later told the story to the Beatles, stating that "I know what it's like to be dead," and it was this quote that later appeared in the Beatles' song "She Said, She Said."

Answer: Chicago

Terry Kath, the victim, was at a party and picked up one gun and pulled the trigger, but was fortunate that it did not have a bullet in the chamber. However, he chose to further tempt fate by grabbing a different semiautomatic and again pulled the trigger after telling his wife "Don't worry, it's not loaded." Unfortunately, a bullet was in the chamber and Kath died instantly in front of onlookers.

Answer: False

Pope John Paul I died in 1978, just 33 days into his papacy, of a suspected heart attack. It was Pope John Paul II whose first assassination attempt was in 1981, when he was struck with a bullet and nearly died due to substantial blood loss. After his recovery the Pope visited his shooter in prison in 1983.

Another attempt on the Pope's life was made in 1982, almost 1 year to the day after the first assassination attempt, when a man unsuccessfully tried to stab him with a bayonet.