Shooting Victim’s Recovery Is Rapid

James English, a 52-year-old General Dynamics supervisor shot in the head by an irate fired worker, continued a remarkable recovery Sunday, making such “steady improvement” that doctors upgraded his condition from serious to fair.

English, who was shot in the back of the skull at close range Friday when ex-employee Robert Earl Mack opened fire after a grievance hearing, is fighting visual impairment when he looks to the left, doctors at UC San Diego Medical Center said. Aside from that, his brain functions appear to be intact, doctors said.

“It is really either luck or a miracle, depending on how you look at it,” hospital spokeswoman Leslie J. Franz said.

English had been Mack’s supervisor at General Dynamic’s sprawling Convair Division plant off Pacific Highway. On Jan. 15, Mack was fired for unsatisfactory attendance. Following a grievance hearing Friday afternoon, Mack opened fire with a .38-caliber handgun he had smuggled into the plant.

The shots killed Micheal Konz, 25, a human-resources counselor, and wounded English.

Mack surrendered to San Diego police a short time after the shootings. He remained Sunday in a psychiatric unit at County Jail downtown, with no bail. A court hearing is set for Tuesday at San Diego Municipal Court.

Hours after the shootings, UC San Diego neurosurgeons performed more than three hours of surgery on English, removing bullet and bone fragments and brain tissue. A brain scan Sunday “looked good,” aside from swelling, which neurosurgeon Philip Shields said was to be expected.

Immediately after surgery, English was listed in critical condition. That was upgraded Saturday to serious, and Sunday to fair.

Doctors said at a news conference Saturday that English would have been killed if the bullet had hit him just 2 millimeters closer to the center of his head. That’s about the width of a nickel.