By Ashley Silver
Police1
WHATCOM COUNTY, Wash. — Two Washington deputies are returning to work this week after being shot in the face during a violent neighborhood dispute in February of last year.
According to FOX 13 Seattle, the shooting stemmed from a confrontation that began when 60-year-old Joel Young got into an argument with his neighbor over a burning garbage pile that was sending smoke into his home.
Young reportedly went back into his home and retrieved a shotgun, firing a round into the air in the direction of his neighbor. As Whatcom deputies arrived and ordered the suspect to drop his gun, he fired at the officers striking Deputy Jason Thompson in the head. When his partner, Deputy Ryan Rathbun, stepped forward and began firing at the suspect, he was also struck in the head by the gunfire.
“My fear was that the suspect was going to be coming out to finish trying to kill deputy Thompson or engage us in a gunfight,” Rathbun told FOX. “The focus was on protecting him, myself, and the community.
Police said an “unknown civilian” then interceded and fired multiple rounds from a handgun to protect the deputies from further injury. FOX 13 reported that the deputies were pulled into a garage where first aid was given until help arrived.
The two officers shot are still facing complications from the shooting.
“I was hit in the face and head, full face and head, still have pellets lodged in my sinuses, in my skin and various parts of my body,” Rathbun told FOX.
Deputy Thompson has experienced similar challenges.
“All my injuries were basically from here (bottom nose) to here (top of head), so I had a broken nose, multiple pellets in the forehead and face, one ended up behind my eye, caused me to go blind on my left eye for several weeks, I was wearing these glasses when I got shot,” Thompson said.
He continued, “It took me, what seemed to me like several seconds, to kind of work through the process of, if your dead then why are you still thinking, are you dead, is this the afterlife or is this the kind of thing where you sustained a fatal injury, and you know it but your body hasn’t given up yet.”
Since the shooting, the community’s outpouring of support, helped the deputies overcome the bleak obstacles they faced and encouraged each to return to duty, excited to protect and serve once again.
“Ryan and I, both have something to offer and to give and serve our community and try to return some of that good,” Thompson told FOX 13.
Young remains jailed on attempted murder charges.