The pastor of the Waseca police officer who was shot in the head while responding to a call Monday night says the officer’s condition is improving.
32-year-old Arik Matson is in critical but stable condition at North Memorial hospital. A pastor for the family, Kaleb Hurley of Hope Church in Albert Lea, released a video in which he said Matson is showing signs of improvement after a “very successful,” surgery.
“We know that there is hope and we know that there are great chances that he will be okay in the future,” Hurley said.
According to Hurley, who said he was speaking on behalf of the family, doctors are waiting for swelling to decrease before they could make further determinations:
“But we know that with every hour up to this point, Arik's condition has been getting better and he's better than what the doctors thought that he would be or what they anticipated. There is still swelling and there's a lot of things that will be made known as the swelling goes down as to what's going on inside of his body where those wounds took place,” he said.
In the incident on Monday, four officers responded to a call of a suspicious person with a flashlight in the backyard of a home in the 900 block of 4th Ave. SE. before 8 p.m. The suspect, Tyler Robert Jonovsky, 37, had an active warrant for drug-related charges, but officers did not know they were encountering him.
Officers found Jonovsky in a neighboring property on the next block, and shots were exchanged, with both Jonovsky and Matson hit. Jonovsky was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
A prayer service is being hosted by Hope Church Thursday night, and will be held at 3402 Hoeger Lane in Albert Lea, and the pastor encouraged people to attend, and to give to the family's GoFundMe page.