The original plan was we were going to just check the parking lot and see if we could
find any vehicles or anything to match what we were looking for.
Like I said, at this point, I don't think the Marshall service really thought we were
even on the trail anymore and later in the evening, they were like, well, let's just
try this one more place.
Well, came to the door and asked her if anybody else was in the residence and she said, well,
my boyfriend's back there and some guy, I don't know.
And every day you go to work and think, yeah, it could happen to anybody anytime, but it's
just like people say all the time, you never think it's going to be you.
I actually got into law enforcement by accident and I was like, yeah, I'll try it, why not?
I mean, I always trained hard, but it wasn't until after this that I realized how important
the training was.
When something bad happens, you're doing the right thing and you don't have to think about
it.
There was a wooden dresser and he was basically posted up against the wooden dresser and shot
gun and fired one around.
He struck me in the chest.
I mean, I was probably within a foot of him firing a shotgun at me and didn't even hear
it.
Close enough that the barrel was able to burn me.
Things slowed way down.
I don't know if it was the impact, but basically I kind of fell back into the door frame.
When I got on the floor, my first thought was he's going to come back out to finish
the job.
At that point, I pretty much knew, okay, I'm here by myself.
As I was running out the door that I saw a shell casing from a handgun on the ground
right by the door, I guess they were shooting over my head while I was laying there on the
floor.
There was just a little bit of blood, but not that bad, so I'm like, okay.
I'm not dying here, so I was going to retrieve my entry vest and realize that it's in the
back seat and the doors are locked and my rookie has the keys.
I tried to call out on my radio, but there were so many people trying to give an update,
so I actually took my cell phone out of my pocket and I called my sergeant at the time.
I just told him, I said, I've been shot.
I'm fine.
In our business, you learn who you can trust and who you can't trust, and those were the
people that I wanted there.
A U.S. marshal that was actually on the other side of the wall from me basically tells me,
we need to get you to an ambulance.
That did not bother me right now, so I'll worry about all that when I get done.
Couple moments later, there had been another male subject in the room.
He started hollering out that he was coming out of the apartment, told him to lay down
on the ground and start crawling towards us where we could keep an eye on his hands.
The actor started firing shotgun rounds through the wall of the apartment, grabbed a hold
of him by his arm and started pulling him over towards cover where I was at.
And that was actually the first time that I hurt.
Maybe a little worse than it looks, you know.
While I was doing that, he basically came to the doorway.
We started to order him to the ground.
I was actually the first one to him, got him, put handcuffs on him.
Of course, the whole time I'm doing this, my lieutenant's like, no, we got to go to
the ambulance, you know, and just let me finish doing what I'm doing, and we'll go.
Went in through and we cleared the residence just to make sure that it was safe and there
is nobody else in the, inside the residence, and...
Okay.
you
you
