BOSTON — A decorated Boston police officer remained in a medically induced coma Saturday, a night after he was shot in the face by a man with several gun convictions during a traffic stop that ended when other officers fatally shot his attacker, the city’s police commissioner said.
Officer John Moynihan, 34, was struck just below his right eye, and the bullet remains lodged below his right ear, said Commissioner William Evans. He was listed in critical condition. Evans said Moynihan is undergoing tests and is being monitored for bleeding in his brain.
“We are hoping and praying there’s not further damage,” Evans said. “He’s a fighter. I am sure he’s going to pull through.”
Moynihan and five other gang task-force members, traveling in two cars, stopped a car Friday night in the city’s Roxbury neighborhood after reports of shots fired, Evans said.
The commissioner said the officers had blue lights flashing but none had pulled out their weapons. He said video from the scene shows Moynihan approaching the driver’s door, and the suspect, Angelo West, 41, pulling a gun and shooting him at point-blank range.
Evans said West continued firing at the other officers as he tried to run away, emptying his .357 Magnum handgun, and was killed at the scene when police returned fire. A woman driving by in a car suffered a flesh wound, Evans said.
Moynihan is on the police Youth Violence Task Force, Evans said. He is a former Army Ranger who served in Iraq in 2006-07 and was honored at the White House in May with the National Association of Police Organizations TOP COPS award. Moynihan received the award for being one of the first responders in Watertown after the April 2013 gunbattle with the Boston Marathon bombers.
Evans said Moynihan’s girlfriend, sister and other relatives were at the hospital.
