SandyMaloneAtascocita, TX – A Precinct 4 deputy constable was shot and three other deputies were injured during a middle of the night gunfight in northeast Harris County.
Four or five officers were responding to a call for a disturbance at a home on Saratoga Woods Lane in the Eagle Springs subdivision at about 2 a.m. on April 17 when a man came out of the house with a shotgun and started shooting at deputies, KTRK reported.
At least three or four deputies returned fire, and the suspect was hit, according to Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman.
“Guy comes out, surprisingly, with a long gun. He gets off the first shot. And again, we’ve got probably three or four deputies that returned fire… the suspect is here at Hermann. He has a total of 22 entry and exit wounds,” Constable Hermann said during a press conference at the hospital.
Constable Herman identified the officer who was shot as Deputy Christopher Gaines, a member of the East District Patrol Division who has worked for the constable’s office for two years, FOX News reported.
Deputy Gaines, 25, was shot multiple times in the lower half of his body. He was airlifted to Memorial Hermann Hospital where he underwent surgery and was in stable condition, according to Constable Herman.
“My main goal right now is to get inside and check on my guy that’s been severely struck in the lower extremities,” Constable Herman told reporters at a media availability at the hospital, according to FOX News.
Later on, he came back out and said that Deputy Gaines was in a lot of pain with several buckshots lodged in or near his bones.
Doctors were trying to determine whether to remove the buckshot and the deputy was in surgery, Constable Herman said.
“The young man is severely injured and he doesn’t have feeling in one leg. And he’s going to have some surgeries to go… he’s in a lot of pain and I think they’ve given him the most pain medicine they can give him,” Constable Herman told reporters outside the hospital.
“He’s stable and in the best hands he can be in,” the constable said.
Deputy Gaines is married and has a young child, KPRC reported.
A second deputy was hit in the face by shotgun debris and was transported to a hospital in Humble. He received nine stitches in his head.
Two additional deputies were hurt running from the scene but their injuries were not serious, according to KTRK.
Police have not yet released the names of the three other deputies who were injured.
“I am very humbled and honored to work with these heroes who bravely stood together and not only protected a fallen deputy, but also put down the suspect when he engaged them in a gun battle,” Constable Mark Herman said in a post Tuesday morning on his department’s Facebook page.
The suspect was also transported to the same hospital as Deputy Gaines, KTRK reported.
“The suspect ironically is in the same room right beside him. The suspect was shot, I believe the nurse said 22 entry and exit wounds. He is still alive,” Constable Herman said.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office was investigating the shooting, KPRC reported.