Scott Painter, the loss prevention associate shot by a suspect who opened fire inside a Dallas Home Depot, remains in ICU, but his family says they’re hopeful. His mother, Leslie LeBlanc says he remembers every detail. “He relives it pretty frequently,” LeBlanc said. She sat down for a one-on-one interview with local news station WFAA because she wants people to know about her son. Last week, the first words heard over the police radio were. “Shots fired, shots fired. Officers down. We are in the back of the store.” Those first words over the police radio came from Painter. He’d been shot three times. Dallas Officers Cyrstal Almeida and Rogelio Santander had been shot and critically wounded. Painter reached one of their radios. “After he was shot, he was in the store still telling people to take cover,” said LeBlanc. “We want the public to know what a special human being he is,” she said. She recalls texting and calling him the day of the shooting but no answer. She watched it unfold on TV. “When it was reported a third person was shot at that time, I knew that it was probably him,” she said. Seeing her son for the first time after the shooting was difficult. “He was really swollen and his head was wrapped because of some of the surgery,” she said.
After multiple surgeries though, he’s beginning the long road to full recovery. “A couple of days ago he was able to walk for a little bit, and he was able to talk. His first words after test was happy anniversary to his wife because it was just their 6 month anniversary.” He’s lived in Dallas for nine years, most of those working as a loss prevention associate at Target and Home Depot and did his job with compassion. His mother says he’s always been that way encouraging others. “The people he would arrest for their crimes says he’d say, ‘Man, it’s not about you. I’m just doing my job and I hope moving forward you can make the right decisions,'” she said. Santander died the morning after the shooting. Almeida has been moved from ICU to a regular floor, where she’ll begin rehab. On Tuesday, his family went to Officer Santander’s funeral and walked with police to pay their respects. They say their heart breaks for his family and know that only by the Grace of God Scott Painter is here. And they believe he lived to do more good in the world that can be evil. [Source: WFAA8 News] A Go-Fund-Me page has been set up for Painter and his family.
