A Powerball winner from California won a life changing $213 million prize in the lottery draw on October 23. The winner, a retired nuclear medicine technician from Saint Agnes Medical Center, is Carlo Mitchell,aged 68.
Mitchell purchased the winning ticket at the Fast N Easy store on Shields and Armstrong avenues, just a short distance from his house in east-central Fresno.
The cash prize on the winning Powerball ticket is roughly $123 million after taxes and other expenses. The lottery said that Mitchell was the only winner of the draw and secured all six matching numbers.
Elias Dominguez, a spokesman for the lottery said that according to State rules, winner’s names must be released although a news conference is not obligatory:
“The winner didn’t want a press conference. More often than not, winners don’t do press conferences. When they have more time to think about it, they don’t want to do it, but we were all set to go,” Dominguez said.
A neighbor of the Powerball winning couple, Roger Fast, said about the Mitchells: “They were expecting to be identified eventually, but they preferred to lay low. It seems like it would be a lot of work to manage that kind of money.”
Carlo’s wife Erlinda was truly shocked when her husband broke the amazing news to her: “I fainted, I blacked out right there on the new couch. I just couldn’t believe it,” she said.
Another neighbor, Kina Cortez, said about Carlo’s reaction to the win: “It’s like being struck by lightning when there are no clouds. He was so excited.”
She also said that the Mitchells, who have lived in the neighborhood for 15 years , were a little overwhelmed: “I think they are overwhelmed right now. I can’t say what they are going to do, it’s too soon.”
The winning numbers for the Powerball lottery were: 3, 23, 31, 34, and 47. (Powerball number 13.)