By Carolyn Tuft
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ST. LOUIS, Mo. — A St. Louis police officer shot five times during a home invasion last week was released from the hospital on Friday, a police spokeswoman said Monday.
“She continues to amaze her doctors and co-workers with her strength and determination as she recovers. However, she still has a very long road ahead to a full recovery,” police spokeswoman Erica S. Van Ross said in a news release.
Unclear is whether the officer will be able to return to her job at the police department, Van Ross said. Police officials have declined to release the name of the officer.
The officer was shot early Oct. 5 at a home in the 900 block of Hickory Street. Killed in the home invasion was Gina Stallis, 34, a mother of two young sons and an oncology nurse at the John Cochran VA hospital on Grand Boulevard.
The police officer’s boyfriend, who is Stallis’ cousin, was also injured in the attack. He was shot in the neck. There was no word on whether the man, a former firefighter, has been released from the hospital.
Prosecutors say Stallis, the former firefighter and the police officer were entering the home where Stallis’ young sons were staying with her mother and grandmother about 1 a.m. on Oct. 5 when they encountered two gunmen.
After forcing Stallis to help them take a big-screen TV, the gunmen tried to force everyone in the house into the basement.
Fearing that the gunmen would kill them all, the police officer refused. One of the gunmen shoved her and a brawl began involving the two gunmen and the nurse, police officer and former firefighter.
Stallis was shot and killed.
Mario Coleman, 22, and a juvenile who has not been named have been charged in the home invasion.
Coleman was arrested with stolen items from the house in his car. He could face the death penalty when he is tried on charges that include first-degree murder, armed criminal action and at least 10 other counts. He is being held in the city jail.
The teen was arrested after showing up in the emergency room at a St. Louis hospital with a gunshot wound. He is charged as a juvenile with murder and five other felonies. A court date is set for Nov. 14 on whether he will be tried as an adult.
Copyright 2009 St. Louis Post-Dispatch