SEATTLE — A Mount Vernon police officer who was shot in the head last month while responding to a call has shown signs of improvement in the hospital.
Dr. Randall Chesnut, a brain surgeon at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, said Mike McClaughry can respond to commands, open his eyes and smile.
Chesnut told reporters Friday that McClaughry is not yet awake or alert.
Mount Vernon Lt. Chris Cammock told the Skagit Valley Herald earlier that the 60 year-old veteran police officer still has a long recovery ahead.
McClaughry had been in hospital since the Dec. 15 shooting, He was responding to a shooting in Mount Vernon, 60 miles north of Seattle, when he was shot.
After a lengthy standoff at a home, officers arrested Ernesto Lee Rivas, a 44-year-old repeat felon who has been charged with attempted first-degree murder.
Two teenagers in the home also have been charged. Authorities said police faced repeated gunfire during the standoff.