CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — A Clayton County police officer is taking us through the night he got shot at the scene of a barricaded gunman.
Officer Kenyon Ford told Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne that even though he’s been shot, he wants to get back on the job as fast as he can.
Ford said on Feb. 25, SWAT and the elite CAGE unit he’s a part of, and other officers, were on scene where a man already suspected of shooting someone earlier that day had barricaded himself inside.
“Suddenly we hear gunfire, so you hear the radio traffic, ‘Shots fired! Shots fired! Shots fired!’” Ford said. “Unbelievably and unexpectedly, I got hit.”
Ford estimates at least 20 Clayton County officers were on Summer Chase Drive after Clayton County PD officers chased shooting suspect Daniel Neal there and he barricaded himself in a house.
“I just had to get myself out of there. I mean, I wasn’t going to stop fighting. I mean it hurts like nothing you can probably compare,” Ford said about being shot. I felt like something like a sledgehammer took a blow to my knee.”
When Neal opened fire on SWAT officers and they returned fire following hours of efforts to get Neal to surrender, a bullet came through a wall and hit Ford in the knee as he helped keep a perimeter around the house.
“They got me out of there as quick as they could, which I appreciate,” Ford said. “The wound was actually right at my knee.”
“How close to the femoral artery was it?” Winne asked Ford.
“Real close. Luckily and thankfully the doctor said it just missed the arteries and important joints there,” Ford said. “It could have been bad.”
Ford said he was on scene as part of the CAGE unit, which is often called when there’s serious trouble.
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“Cage is our Criminal Apprehension and Gang Enforcement unit,” Ford said.
“You target violent crime?” Winne asked Ford.
“Yeah, we’re pretty much a crime suppression unit,” Ford said.
“The man upstairs was looking after you that day?” Winne asked Ford.
“Thankfully,” Ford said. “I’m expected to make a full recovery contingent upon me doing what they say, which has been hard because I don’t like to sit still.”
Ford said though he’ll be off his leg for 10 weeks, he can’t wait to get back to work.
“I believe in making my community better, you know? I can’t do that without being there and I also can’t make a complaint about anything in the community if I’m not doing anything about it myself,” Ford said. “I believe in it with my faith. I’ve just wanted to be part of keeping my community safe.”
Fiancé Tionna Smith told Winne that she’s pregnant and when the baby grows up, she wants her or him to know some things about dad.
“I know this is what he loves to do,” Smith said. “Their dad is brave, fearless, strong. With me a gentle giant.”
Lt. Ricky Porter said two women sent quilts for Ford after he was shot.
“So many people supporting me. I mean, I was given an opportunity to survive it man, so I can’t take that for granted. I gotta get back a 100% and just keep going,” Ford said.
Ford said he’s got a lot of hardware in his leg, plates and screws that will stay and fragments of the bullet that will stay too. He said he thanks the community for their support.
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