Paramedics arrive at the scene of the shooting and find a young Latino male stretched out in a pool of blood on the sidewalk.

"Two shots in the middle of the chest," says a paramedic, "he was dead before he hit the ground."

After the crime scene team finishes their investigation, the victim is placed in a plastic body-bag and transported to the morgue.

About two hours after the shooting, Kelly, the hospital security guard, is called to the ER. A Latino man is being treated for a chest wound — a knife-slash across the chest.

The patient, Romero, wants to know if he can see the body that was brought to the morgue a few hours ago.

Kelly is wondering why this guy wants to see the shot-up body. "Let me check with the morgue," says Kelly, "I’m sure it’ll be okay."

Kelly senses that something isn’t quite right about this. He calls the police. A detective asks Kelly to describe the patient being treated for a knife wound. Kelly does.

Then, with great urgency, the detective tells Kelly: "Don’t alarm the patient, but quietly tell the nurse to keep the guy on the table as long as possible. Tell ’em anything, just keep the guy in the ER until we get there."

Kelly goes back to the trauma room where a doctor is sewing up Romero’s wound. The nurse tells him he’ll also need a tetanus shot.

Minutes later a detective and two uniformed cops enter the ER. The Latino is arrested for murder. A Mac 10 (9mm fully automatic weapon) is found under blankets in the trunk of his car.

What happened? The dead man had cut Romero (a rival gang member) during an argument. Romero later returned with a Mac 10 automatic weapon and shot the Latino.

Why did Romero want to see the body? He just wanted to see the body for bragging rights, later on.

A tip of the hat to an alert security guard.