ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Thursday, February 13, 1997            TAG: 9702130074
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-3  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: RICHMOND

CIRCUS WIRE ARTIST SERIOUSLY INJURED IN CENTER-RING FALL

A fifth-generation circus performer fell nearly 30 feet from a high wire during the opening night of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, seriously injuring himself.

Walfer Guerrero fell partly on a foot-thick mat in the center ring. Spectators said his head and upper body hit the floor of the Richmond Coliseum.

Guerrero suffered severe spinal injuries and was in critical but stable condition Wednesday at the Medical College of Virginia Hospitals, performance director David Kiser said.

``I thought he was dead,'' said John Hamilton, 13, of Highland Park, who witnessed the Tuesday night fall.

Kiser did not know if Guerrero was paralyzed. ``At the time, he was complaining of numbness, but he was moving his hands as we took him out of here,'' he said.

The fall occurred when one acrobat tried to jump over another on the high wire. ``He caught his toe funny on the other guy's shoulder. He landed the jump, but then he couldn't recover his balance,'' said Kiser.

The ring was darkened immediately and the arena became silent as circus workers, the Guerrero family and medics gathered around the wire walker.

Kiser said Guerrero, 28, was born in the circus and probably had done the trick thousands of times. He and his wife, Angelina, also a peformer, have a 2-year-old daughter.

- Associated Press

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