• Wife of Orlando officer in coma: ‘My kids need a daddy. This community needs a real hero'

    By: Shannon Butler

    Updated:

    ORLANDO, Fla. - The Orlando police officer who was shot in the face earlier this week remains in a coma at Orlando Regional Medical Center, doctors said.

    Officer Kevin Valencia’s surgeon said during a press conference Wednesday that Valencia has a long road to recovery.

    Kevin Valencia’s wife, Meghan Valencia, gave an emotional and tearful plea, asking the community for prayers, but her first words were about the four children her husband was trying to save. 

    “I’m so sorry to those families because I am a mom and I can’t even imagine what they are going through,” she said.

    Read: Long criminal past, rocky relationship led up to shooting of officer, four kids' deaths

    “I need my husband. My kids need a daddy and this community needs a real hero,” she said while sitting among her husband’s brothers and sisters in blue.    

    Meghan Valencia said all her husband and the officers wanted was to get the children to safety.              

    “He was my first love," Meghan Valencia said. "Kevin and I were each other’s first boyfriend and girlfriend when we were 12. So, you can imagine that this person is literally everything to me."

    How to help: Donate to Valencia's family

    Officer Kevin Valencia
    © 2019 Cox Media Group.
    Walter Benenati

    Doctors said Valencia has shown signs of responsiveness. 

    He was shot late Sunday night after responding to a domestic violence call at the Westbrook Apartments. 

    He and others on his squad were there because Gary Lindsey’s girlfriend called police and reported that she was being battered.                   

    Read: Who is Gary Wayne Lindsey Jr.?

    The officers went to the door and tried to make contact with Lindsey, but Lindsey shot Valencia through the door. 

    Meghan Valencia then got the visit she never wanted to get.

    “In the middle of the night, officers came to my house and took me here and told me that my husband had been shot trying to save some kids,” she said. “My husband was the strong one. I am not.” 

    The shooting prompted an hourslong standoff with Lindsey, who, at some point during the negotiations, killed four children in the home and then himself. 

    Read: ‘He’s extremely strong’: Orlando officer who was shot remains critical

    Orlando Police Chief John Mina gave an update on the investigation, saying that only one of the five guns in the home was used--a .380 handgun that Lindsey stole from his father--had been used.

    © 2019 Cox Media Group.

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