Community Donates to Send Wounded Michigan Officer, Family on Vacation

Back on the job, a Bay City, Mich., police officer recently wounded in the line of duty is gearing up for a much-needed vacation with his family, paid for by a community that wanted to show its support, reports mlive.com .

A fundraising effort garnered a four-figure sum to send Officer Brandon S. Murphy and his family on a trip to Kalahari Waterpark in Sandusky, Ohio. Murphy in the early morning of Monday, Feb. 2, responded to a home invasion complaint on the city's East Side and ended up being shot in the left thigh by 17-year-old suspect Jacob M. Haglund. Murphy returned fire, hitting Haglund in the shoulder, abdomen, and neck, wounds from which he died on Sunday, Feb. 15.

Following a Michigan State Police investigation, prosecutors ruled the shooting justified.

"The fundraiser idea was created by Rebecca Menzel, who is a paramedic with McLaren Bay Region hospital," said Rod Schanck, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 103. "When I heard of her idea, the FOP Lodge 103 got on board full force."

Murphy said he was touched to have the public and his peers rally around him.

The fundraiser raised more than $4,000, Schanck said.

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