Tucson police Sgt. Robert Carpenter is able to speak and recognize family members, say doctors who treated the 46-year-old father of two after he was shot in the brain early Sunday.
While they would not disclose details about the bullet’s trajectory, doctors at The University of Arizona Medical Center - University Campus confirmed Wednesday that the bullet did enter Carpenter’s brain, and that he underwent similar emergency surgery to that of former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords’ after she was shot in the head on Jan. 8, 2011.
In the surgery, doctors remove a section of the skull to allow the brain to swell. UA Medical Center neurosurgeon Dr. Sergio Rivero performed the surgery on Carpenter.
Giffords wore a helmet for four months following her surgery before doctors in Houston gave her a synthetic skull flap using computer technology that exactly matches the missing bone.
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UA Medical Center chief trauma surgeon Dr. Peter Rhee could give few details about Carpenter’s case, but said the injury is different from the one Giffords suffered. Unlike Carpenter, there were no reports of Giffords speaking in the first days after she was shot. The confirmation of her first words came in early February, nearly a month after she was shot.
“We can’t be too specific about the injury itself but we’re happy to say Sergeant Carpenter has been doing very well. He has been downgraded from critical condition to serious condition at this time and he is progressing very nicely and we are very excited and happy about that,” Rhee said.
In an interview, Rivero and Rhee said that Carpenter is “wide awake and talking” and recognizing family members. They would not say whether Carpenter knows what happened to him. Rhee said it is a “different injury” from what Giffords had but would not elaborate.
Carpenter, a 12-year police department veteran, was shot when he responded to a triggered alarm at a home east of North Alvernon Way and north of East Broadway. While standing outside the home, officers heard a shot, then saw Carpenter collapse.
Carpenter’s wife, Cindy Carpenter, spoke to reporters during a news conference at the UA Medical Center Wednesday evening, saying she wanted to thank the community, first responders, medical personnel and the Tucson Police Department for the love and support she’s received since her husband was shot.
Supported by her best friend, Malinda Clelland, and also by Benjamin Vrbicek, the pastor of New Life Bible Fellowship, which the Carpenter family attends, Cindy Carpenter said she has strong faith in her husband’s recovery.
“I’m very thankful for my faith in Jesus Christ and he has given us the strength to get through this crisis,” she said. “We know that God is a healing God.”
Carpenter said there have been “ups and downs” with her husband’s progress but that they’re very hopeful. The couple’s children are 18 and 14 and they are doing “as well as can be expected at this time,” she said.
No one has been charged with Carpenter’s shooting, although Richard “Ricky” Mendoza Jr., 29, was arrested in connection with two break-ins Sunday at the home where Carpenter was shot.
Mendoza is facing two counts of burglary, one count of second-degree burglary and six counts of prohibited possession, police said.
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