Harper County Undersheriff Shot In Line Of Duty Returns Home For Christmas

He was shot on Thanksgiving, but he made it back for Christmas. 

A Harper County undersheriff, who was injured in the line of duty, received a hero's welcome as he returned home to continue his recovery.

On Friday, Travis Painter was released from OU Medical Center in Oklahoma City. First responders then escorted him to Harper County Community Hospital in Buffalo, where he will remain for treatment and physical therapy.

"He is so incredibly glad to be home," Travis Painter's father, Tommy Painter, said. "The people in northwest Oklahoma are absolutely amazing. They have done everything they possibly can to help Travis and to help his girls."

Painter and deputies responded to the 100 block of Walnut Drive in Buffalo at about 6:30 a.m. on Nov. 24 because a man with a shotgun was trying to enter a building, according to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. 

The suspect walked away, but the deputies later encountered him at a nearby intersection, the OSBI said. 

The gunman then opened fire on the deputies, hitting Travis Painter. The deputies returned fire, killing the gunman, said the OSBI.

Both of Travis Painter's legs were hit, Tommy Painter said. 

Doctors had to remove multiple bone fragments from his right leg and used pins, plates and screws to repair it. 

But Travis Painter's left leg fared much worse: a roughly 5-inch section of the leg's artery was destroyed.

The family and doctors initially feared that Painter's left leg might have to be amputated because it had no blood supply for hours. But Painter underwent successful vascular surgery at OU Medical Center. 

The procedure involved taking veins from Travis Painter's right leg and sewing them onto the damaged artery in his left leg, Tommy Painter explained.

With both of Travis Painter's legs healing, he is focusing on physical therapy.

"They're teaching him to get out of bed, slide over either into a recliner chair or a wheelchair so that he can have a little more comfort than just the hospital bed," Tommy Painter said

."The last report we had from orthopedic surgeons is that they're going to try to let him start putting weight on it, on both legs or at least one of the legs, sometime in February."

That's the long-term goal. But in the short term, Travis Painter is looking forward to spending Christmas with his family at the hospital.

"One way or another, we're going to get him with his girls, probably his two sisters and my wife and I," Tommy Painter said.

Painter's sister created a GoFundMe page to help him and his two daughters. Click here to make an online donation.