Jul 16, 2009 4:00 pm US/Pacific
5 Cops Shot, 2 Suspects Dead In N.J. Shootout
Automatic Shotgun Used Against Authorities
JERSEY CITY, N.J. (CBS) ―
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Five police officers were shot and two suspects were killed in an early morning shootout in Jersey City on Thursday.
CBS
Tension has been high at Jersey City Medical Center, as fellow Jersey City police and law enforcement wait for updates on the most seriously wounded officers. Both are lucky to survive their injuries, but neither is out of the woods yet.
A total of eight officers suffered injuries, but five were shot. Two of those five are lucky to be alive: Ofc. Marc DiNardo, who caught a shotgun blast in the face, and Ofc. Michael Camacho, who was shot in the neck. Among those who were part of the rescue effort was Jersey City paramedic August Johansen:
"Our one goal was to get that person that we're going into [help] and bring him out alive," Johansen said.
The bullet that entered Camacho's neck just missed his carotid artery and jugular vein, reports CBS station WCBS-TV in New York City.
"He just asked for help, to make sure that he was going to be all right, that his partner was going to be all right. I assured him that my partner was working on his partner and I was working on him and we were gonna take care of him," said EMT Michael Saul.
DiNardo, who was also rushed to the hospital, was, for all intents and purposes, dead. He had gone into cardiac arrest at least four times.
"He was the most critically injured. To put this in perspective, this officer came in full cardiac arrest, with no signs of life. The fact that we can even stand here at this moment and talk about him being in surgery is a minor miracle in and of itself," said Dr. Nathaniel Holmes of the Jersey City Medical Center.
One reason officer DiNardo is alive is because Port Authority Ofc. Daniel Diaz, responding to the Jersey City police call for help, carried him, with another officer's help, down three flights of stairs in the middle of the chaos. Diaz was a paramedic for seven years before he became a cop, and he performed CPR as they went down the stairs.
"They had him by the arms and by the legs. They got him down the stairs, we got him onto our stretcher. He was who helped us put him onto the stretcher and get him in the ambulance," said EMT Ashleigh Grillot.
Three of the five officers who were shot have been released. DiNardo remains in critical condition and will require reconstructive facial surgery and significant rehabilitation before he can be sent home. Camacho remains heavily sedated and also in critical condition, but he is expected to recover. Neither of the officers is breathing on his own. The next 24-48 hours will be extremely sensitive, and as the Jersey City chief of police stated, "For those of you who believe in prayer, this is a good time."
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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