By Ryan Hagen
San Bernardino County Sun
UPDATE 4:05 p.m. (PST):
Officer Michael Gracia was able to get out of his hospital bed and take steps today, according to the City of Ontario. As Gracia continues to show signs of improvement, The Ontario Police Officers’ Association has set up a fund through the Ontario Public Employees Credit Union. Find more information about the fund here.
Original story below.
LAS VEGAS — An Ontario police officer who was shot in the head during Sunday night’s mass shooting in Las Vegas underwent surgery Monday and was in critical but stable condition, officials said.
Officer Michael Gracia, 24, and his fiancee were both wounded at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival, according to Ontario police Sgt. Jeff Higbee. The fiancee’s wounds were not life-threatening, Higbee said.
After Gracia was hurt, his fiancee, Summer, tried to cover him and was shot as well, according to Jesse Rivera, a friend of Gracia’s from Bonita High School in La Verne.
Rivera created a GoFundMe page to help pay for Gracia’s medical bills and other expenses. It had raised more than $42,000 by 5 p.m. Monday.
While the surgery was successful, there will be a long road to recovery, Rivera wrote on the page.
“The love between those two are real and they are new parents and new parents shouldn’t be going through this,” he said.
https://www.facebook.com/stephen.gracia/posts/1632296220174456
Though Gracia was only 24, he had been with the Ontario Police Department “for many years, starting out as a cadet, then working as a jailer and eventually becoming a police officer. He has been an officer for four years,” Higbee said in a statement.
“Please keep Officer Gracia and his family and the families of all of the victims in your thoughts and prayers,” Higbee said.
Ontario police said Monday afternoon that a media outlet’s report that Gracia had died was untrue.
“That is misinformation,” the Ontario Police Department said on Twitter shortly before 2 p.m. “He is still in critical but stable condition.
Among those who donated to the GoFundMe account for Gracia was retired Ontario Officer Robb McCandlish — whose $500 contribution was a way to pay it forward.
McCandlish was injured while on duty in 2013, when his motorcycle was involved in a collision with a semi-truck in Ontario. More than 150 people came to a barbecue to raise funds for McCandlish, then a corporal, while he was intensive care.
McCandlish said he knew Gracia and respected him.
“He was one of our jailers prior to getting hired on full time,” he said Monday. “A really good kid. You hate to see this happen.”
He said police officers stand together regardless of their personal experiences.
“This is where the police department as a family come together during these times of grief,” McCandlish said.
He said he wanted to help ease the worries for Gracia and his family.
“He’s got a lot of medical injuries to go through, and he doesn’t need his thoughts on finances,” McCandlish said. “I know what it means to go through that and to have people helping you.”
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