COLUMBUS, Ohio - A Columbus police officer is now recovering at home after being shot multiple times and undergoing emergency surgery.
Police said the shooting happened on Chelford Drive in northeast Columbus on May 28 around 8:20 a.m.
Columbus Police Chief Thomas Quinlan said Officer Russ Weiner was taken to Mount Carmel East Hospital and the doctors were able to stabilize him.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said according to a sworn affidavit, 68-year-old Rita Gray shot officer Weiner while he was participating in a search warrant at her home related to that investigation.
Quinlan said last week Weiner has a long road of recovery ahead.
Columbus police said Weiner was taken home Sunday morning by the same medics who took him to the hospital on Thursday.
Weiner is a member of the investigative tactical team otherwise known as the In/Tac team.
“I can’t tell you when I got the call and said it’s not good and had to go to the hospital, your heart is up in your throat. It was a very tough drive to the hospital,” said Quinlan.
Quinlan said a second officer at the scene was injured, but not shot.
Attorney General Dave Yost explained the officers were shot at through the wall, but that the suspect shot the officer “within eyesight.”
“As they were entering the house, Gray began to fire shots through the wall at the officers,” Yost explained.
BCI is handling the investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is assisting.
Quinlan said those agencies are handling the investigation because he is friends with the officer and wanted to make sure the investigation is as transparent as possible.
Gray is in custody and is charged with conspiring to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and oxycodone, possession with intent to distribute oxycodone, and discharging a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.