Both injured cops now recovering at home as second officer leaves hospital
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POCATELLO — Both officers wounded in a shooting Thursday have been discharged from Portneuf Medical Center to complete their recoveries at home.
Officer Demetrius Amos was released Wednesday, according to a release from the city of Pocatello. Officer Mackenzie Handel was also released from the hospital earlier this week.
“I’d like to thank the doctors and nurses at Portneuf Medical Center for their quick response, and their fast thinking,” Pocatello Police Chief Roger Schei said at a press conference Tuesday. “I was in the emergency room that night. To watch them work was amazing.”
Amos and Mackenzie sustained significant injuries while responding to a disturbance call Thursday around 1:40 a.m.
When the officers arrived at a home on the 900 block of East Bridger Street, they found a man, later identified as Todd V. Brewer, armed with a rifle in front of the home. As the officers approached, Brewer raised his rifle toward them, Schei said.
Both officers, as well as Brewer, fired. Handel was struck in the abdomen. Amos was shot in the abdomen, left hand and face. The round that hit him in the face exited through his neck then re-entered his chest, according to Schei.
“It was a pretty brutal injury, so for him to be able to recover from that and be where he’s at right now is nothing (short) of a miracle. We’re grateful for that,” Schei said.
Brewer was also shot and is being treated at Portneuf Medical Center.
He is listed as stable, according to Portneuf Medical Center spokeswoman Mary Keating.
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Though the emergency call came from one of two people inside the home, Schei said that the incident did not include an attempted forced entry. According to Schei, Brewer was inside of the home with the other two people when a disturbance occurred and led to the emergency call.
The incident remains under investigation.