Mount Vernon officer shot showing signs of ‘incremental' improvements

Doctors and family gathered at Harborview Medical Center on Friday to give the public an update on the condition of a Mount Vernon police officer who was shot in the head.

“[He’s a] strong and stubborn man, and people in these instances do the best,” said daughter April McClaughry. “If he could walk up and go home, he would.”

April’s father, Mike "Mick" McClaughry, remains in stable but critical condition in the intensive care unit. He is in a coma.

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>> Read: Family members: Mount Vernon officer shot makes 'huge step forward'

Doctors said the 60-year-old is showing signs of incremental improvements, thought, they said, the road to recovery is a day-by-day basis.

"There's a coma scale for head injury. Everyone in this [news conference] is a 15, and the worse is a 3. He's somewhere in the middle, and he's come up, he's started low on that scale ... and he has climbed about halfway up that scale," said Dr. Louis Kim, a UW professor of neurological surgery and chief of neurological surgery. ""He does localize to stimulation, but it's a positive sign. We want to see him understand certain commands, like squeezing one's hand … he's not quite there, but that's the next step. He's kind of a coma … we do know in an unfamiliar environment like the hospital or ICU, to hear a familiar voice or touch of a familiar hand is going to help him."

The family received thousands of cards and emails at Harborview since the shooting. They said receiving the support has been of tremendous help.

>> A GoFundMe page has been set up to help out McClaughry and his family. Here's how to send an email to the officer. 

"'Dear officer, you should get a purple heart for being so amazing a brave. You sacrificed your head for others' safety. You are amazing. Thank you for protecting us and our community,'" April read in the news conference.

April said at the news conference that he dad is two to three years away from retirement.

"Nobody wants to receive this kind of call, and after 31 years on the force, and lately in last couple years, things have gotten very, very rocky out there, and the concern gets higher, but after so long on the force you don't really think about your dad being in danger. My dad is a very smart man, he does things by the book, and he doesn't do things recklessly. You become numb to those kind of things … so to get a call like that it's definitely very hard."

Ernesto Rivas, 44, was arrested in McClaughry's shooting. According to court papers, he fired from inside the house, where he was holed up with two teenagers. Police say the three suspects have ties to a gang.

Police say it was those two teenagers that initially brought police to the scene last Thursday night.

Police say 16-year-old Austin Gonzales and a 15-year-old boy shot another teenager, 18-year-old Kyler Vallejo, nearby.

Then, according to charging documents, the two teens went to the house and shot at police, along with Rivas, for several hours.

Originally thought to be hostages, police negotiators say the teenagers could be heard laughing.

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>> Related: Man, 2 teens charged in shooting of Mount Vernon officer

Prosecutors say the two teenagers, and Vallejo, who they allegedly shot in the neck, are in rival gangs. Vallejo is going to be OK.

Rivas and the two teens are charged with attempted first-degree murder for shooting McClaughry in the back of the head.

The teenagers are also charged with attempted murder in the second degree in the shooting of the other teen.

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