By Sarah Calams
ALIQUIPPA, Pa.— Bystanders leapt into action to help a state trooper who was shot and wounded in the leg by a suspect Friday.
Good Samaritans helped Trooper Jonnie Schooley out of a mini-mart to stop the bleeding from his gunshot wound. And while they were giving Schooley medical care, more good Samaritans helped restrain the suspect, CBS News reported.
Video shows a group of good Samaritans taking the shirts off their backs to make tourniquets for Schooley. “People were just wrapping stuff around his leg and he was directing us, he was like, ‘I need it tighter,’ so we just tightened it,” bystander Matthew Weekley said.
Schooley and his partner, Trooper Shawn Palmer, were on patrol when they noticed a disturbance at the mini-mart. The suspect, Damian Bradford, was threatening people with a pistol, according to police. When Schooley and Palmer responded, Bradford “violently struggled with the troopers as they were trying to restrain him,” CBS reported. Bradford tried to take Palmer’s gun and TASER. Schooley was shot by Bradford during the struggle.
Bradford was eventually disarmed and bystanders helped restrain him.
“I want to thank the citizens, several who came to the aid of our troopers,” Jeremy Richard, deputy commissioner of operations for Pennsylvania State Police, said. “The sense of community and support of our police departments must overcome the sense of fear that the gun violence produces.”
Bradford is facing 13 charges. Schooley underwent surgery for his leg and Palmer was taken to a hospital for minor injuries.
