NEW PORT RICHEY, Florida -- A Pasco County Sheriff's deputy returned to active duty on Thursday, two months after a barricaded man opened fire inside a home.
Deputy Chris Stone responded to a domestic violence call in the early morning hours of June 8 after the suspect, identified as Terrance J. Peterson Jr., barricaded himself in the home, according to WFTS-TV.
Peterson opened fire on the deputies as they entered the residence, hitting Stone in the leg. The 41-year-old deputy suffered life-threatening injuries when his femoral artery was cut from from the bullet.
Officials said that the quick thinking of his fellow deputies helped save his life. After Stone was shot, they applied a tourniquet to stop the bleeding until paramedics could take over.
"I remember all of it," Stone said during a press conference. "It felt like somebody had taken a garden hose and just turned it on full and stuck it down my pant leg."
After Stone was hit, he passed out and immediately thought of his family.
"Was today going to be the last time my wife, my kids and my parents saw me?" he recalled. "I realized that wasn't going to be acceptable, and I have to get out of the house."
The sheriff's office says Peterson, who succumbed to his wounds sustained in the incident, would have faced at least five charges of attempted murder.
