Lt. Carlton Marshall of Dallas SWAT is expected to survive after being shot in the neck during an early morning raid. Two Two fast-acting doctors on his team are being credited with saving his life.
Marshall's team was assisting federal agents serving a warrant for money laundering. The plan was to surprise the accused and his 19-year-old female companion, Marisela Villa, while they were sleeping. But police say as the SWAT team entered the residence and Marshall came through a window, Villa rolled out of bed and shot him in the neck with a pistol.
Dr. Alex Eastman and Dr. Jeff Metzger, who often accompany the SWAT team, were on hand to administer immediate aid. Marshall's injury was preventing him from breathing, so the doctors opened his airway with an impromptu tracheotomy and helped to stop his massive bleeding.
"I'm not sure what would have happened if we weren't there," Dr. Eastman told the Dallas Morning News, "but I'm sure glad that we were."
Marshall, 44, is a 21-year veteran of law enforcement who joined Dallas PD in 2006. His wife is an officer in Irving, Texas, and his father is a former Dallas police officer.
Villa has been charged with attempted capital murder. Her four-month-old daughter, who was in the room at the time of the shooting, is in temporary foster care.
