When an Excelsior Spring, MO, police officer was struck twice by gunfire during a traffic stop, a nearby teenager who witnessed the shooting jumped in quickly to help the officer apply his tourniquet. The police department reports the officer was shot in the hand and shoulder.
The Excelsior Springs Police Department says during a confrontation with an armed suspect Saturday evening one officer was shot. A second officer returned fire, hitting the suspect in the head. Both the wounded officer and the suspect were taken to an area hospital for surgeries. Police say the wounded officer underwent a second surgery on Sunday.
“We are so very grateful for the help and response of the many departments that quickly rushed to the scene to provide assistance, our wonderful paramedics, as well as the witnesses on scene who provided aid. We appreciate each and every one of you more than words can express,” the police department said in a social media post Sunday afternoon.
One of the witnesses to the shooting, a 17-year-old girl who was going thrift shopping with her boyfriend, was quick to render aid to the wounded officer.
“I saw the cop get out of the car and then I saw him get shot a few times,” Ava Donegan, the good Samaritan teen tells KMBC. “Somehow, I blinked my eye and the cop who was shot was right in front of my car. He was asking me to get out and help put his tourniquet on. He told me that it was completely numb, and his hand was completely limp.”
Donegan, the daughter of an ICU nurse, helped the officer put his tourniquet on, get his vest off, and helped him use his radio to call it in.
The suspect, 64-year-old Carl Carrel, died from his injuries. The officers were trying to arrest Carrell on a warrant for assaulting a law enforcement officer when he opened fire.
