The Arlington detective shot last week while trying to make an arrest in the slaying of a 6-year-old Saginaw girl has been released from the hospital, police said Monday.
"We have some great news ... Officer Charles Lodatto is released from the hospital and is back home," the department said on its Facebook page. "His friends, neighbors, and family lined the streets with posters and signs as he drove into the neighborhood!"
Lodatto was shot July 23 after officers went to the home of Tyler Lane Holder, 17, who was a neighbor of Alanna Gallagher. Alanna was playing outside her home on Babbling Brook Drive on July 1 when she disappeared.
When officers arrived at Holder's home, he declined to speak with them, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. When he was told that he was under arrest, the document says, he pulled out a handgun.
FBI agent Andy Farrell pushed Holder inside the house and was struggling for the gun when Holder fired, striking Lodatto in the groin, the affidavit states.
Saginaw Detective Robert Richardson returned fire, hitting Holder in the head, the affidavit states.
Lodatto was assigned to the Safe Street FBI Task Force, one of several groups investigating Alanna's death.
The officer was taken to Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital in Fort Worth. He was released Monday.
Holder was kept under guard at John Peter Smith Hospital.
He faces a capital murder charge in Alanna's death and an attempted capital murder charge in the shooting of Lodatto.
Copyright 2013 - Fort Worth Star-Telegram
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
