By Ashley Silver
Police1
NEWARK, N.J. — A woman has been hailed a hero after assisting two Newark police officers who were shot while serving a warrant last week.
News 12 New Jersey spoke to the unnamed woman who moved her car in the path of incoming gunfire to help shield the officers from getting struck again. Officer Johnny Aquino had been hit in the neck and shoulder, and Officer Jabrill Paul had been shot in the leg.
While more gunfire could be heard in the background, the woman remained at the scene, assisting Aquino by pressing a towel to his wound.
“I wasn’t even thinking about myself. I just put him first,” she told News 12. “And I wasn’t even thinking about bullets, the only thing I saw was him. And that’s what I was focused on, saving him.”
The woman told the news platform she is a nurse who works with mentally ill patients.
“[It was] natural for me to go help someone. That’s what I do,” she told News 12. “I would want someone to do that for me, my family, my daughter, my husband, my sister.”
Other officers were eventually able to carry the injured officers away. The woman greeted and spoke with Aquino after he was released from the hospital.
The suspected shooter, Kendall Howard, has been charged with attempted murder for the attack.
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