Wichita officer shot in the head wakes up and writes wife a note. Here’s what it said

The wife of a Wichita officer who was shot three times on June 19 recalled what happened after receiving the call she dreaded since he joined the department five years ago.

The wife of the officer — who has only publicly been identified by his badge number, 2526 — detailed the encounters in a post by the Honore Adversis Foundation, which accepts donations for injured officers in Sedgwick County.

The shooting happened around 10:15 p.m. on June 19 when officers responded to a welfare check in the 500 block of West Carlyle, regarding a possible domestic violence situation. Police said Tyler Hodge, who was found with an “AR-15 style assault rifle” in the shed, fired 18 rounds after officers could be heard in body camera footage telling him twice to “put the gun down.”

Police said Hodge shot the officer, a patrol car and three homes before he was fatally shot by police.

The officer’s wife recalled receiving the dreaded call that night:

“‘Your husband has been shot,’” she wrote. “‘We are sending officers to your house to come and get you and take you to the hospital.”’

She wrote that he was shot twice in the legs and once in the mouth, and that the next “several hours were terrifying for everyone involved.”

At the hospital, she learned he would have to undergo surgery. She grabbed his hand and made him promise he would fight the “hardest he ever has to wake up for me and his two daughters.”

He nodded in agreement.

After “multiple surgeries and procedures,” doctors finally said that he was stable, she wrote.

“The doctors advised that he was not out of the woods yet, he still would need more surgery,” she wrote. “They also advised that he was intubated and that he could not speak.”

He awoke from his anesthesia and tried to communicate with sign language, even though he doesn’t know sign language. Honore Adversis Foundation media spokesperson Steve Jerrell said his mouth was swollen and he couldn’t speak.

The wounded officer then signaled for a pen and paper.

He wrote “I’m alive” and then “I love you.”

“He has been communicating through his pen as clear as if he were able to talk,” she wrote. “This has gotten his friends, family, and his brothers and sisters in blue through the toughest times. He is ... hilarious, ornery, loving, jokester self and we cannot get enough of his little messages.”

Through the writing, she has learned “that it doesn’t matter how you communicate how much you love someone, just try your hardest to do it.” She asked that people put #lettersfromahero in their social media posts so that he can see “some words of love and encouragement.”

“We want him to read your words and remember who he put his life on the line for in the first place,” she wrote. “If this whole incident has taught me anything it is that God is good, all the time.”

His wife wrote the letter on a Honore Adversis Foundation post on Facebook for a T-shirt fundraiser. She designed the T-shirt. More than 250 have been ordered since the fundraiser was set up Friday. Jerrell said that is a lot of support in such a short amount of time.

The front of the $20 T-shirt has a spartan helmet and says “WE GOT YOU 2526.” T-shirts can be ordered through July 9 and picked up at US Logo at 520 North West — delivery is also available.

Jerrell said the company has been helpful to work with since they did their first T-shirt fundraiser after Brian Arterburn was on-duty and run over by a driver of a fleeing SUV in 2017. They’ve also done T-shirt fundraisers for Matt Young, Stacy Woodson and Robert Kunze.

The foundation has also taken monetary donations for the officer’s family. Donations can be made online at www.honorduringadversity.org.

Jerrell said it has more than $5,000 so far.

He said workers’ compensation should cover a lot of the medical costs. But there are other inevitable costs from the injuries, including loss of any overtime or part-time work the officer did. And, although the officer’s condition has improved, Wichita police chief Gordon Ramsay said there is no telling how long his recovery will be, “if ever he fully recovers.”

Jerrell said the additional funds are one less thing the family has to worry about.

“He went out to protect the public and he took the bullet and a citizen didn’t,” he said.

The officer’s wife has been thankful for those donations.

“There are no words to express how grateful and humbled we truly are,” she wrote in a foundation Facebook post. “The support and love that we have received has touched our hearts. Thank you so much!!!”

Contributing: Jason Tidd with The Eagle

This story was originally published June 26, 2021 at 3:06 PM.