Officer Decorated after Boston Bomber Shootout Ambushed, Badly Wounded
BOSTON, March 29 (UPI) — A police officer who was decorated for his actions during an April 2013 shootout with Boston Marathon bombing suspects was placed in a medically induced coma after being shot in the face Friday night.Officer John T. Moynihan, 34, was among gang unit officers investigating shots fired from a vehicle in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood.
After stopping a car with three male occupants, Moynihan approached before being suddenly ambushed.
Angelo West, 41, shot Moynihan point-blank with a .357 Magnum just below the right eye before fleeing and being killed by officers in an exchange of gunfire, police say. A stray round also struck a middle-aged woman driving by at the time.
Police say West had multiple prior gun convictions.
Moynihan was sent to Boston Medical Center in critical condition before doctors placed him in a medically induced coma.
Moynihan is a former U.S. Army Ranger who won the Boston Police Department’s Medal of Honor in 2014.
Due to his involvement in administering life saving steps to a badly bleeding comrade during an April 2013 shootout with Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, Moynihan and 17 other Boston police officers were honored with the Top Cop Award at a White House ceremony last May.
Moynihan, who served tours in Iraq between 2005 and 2008, is also credited with helping triage the wounded at the Boston Marathon finish line in the aftermath of the bombings,according to officials.
“He’s a strong kid,” CNN quoted Boston Police Commissioner William Evans as saying. “He’s a fighter. He’s going to pull through.”
