It's hard to explain exactly how Francesco survived the attack, but according to some sources, it was a miraculous combination of several factors. First of all, it seems the bullets used by the assailant were really old and the gunpowder unusually damped. This, combined with the fact that the gun was a really small caliber and had a very short barrel, which affected the velocity and overall piercing power of the bullets. Instead of piercing, the man's skull ended up just bouncing off