Police officer who wounded suspect medal of valor winner

The officer who wounded a suspect Sunday is a five-year veteran of the force and a winner of the Metropolitan Police Department's Medal of Valor.

Officer Patrick Walters, 40, shot Robert Canfield in the legs with a shotgun Sunday morning outside the Foothill Village Apartments, 6255 Tropicana Avenue at Jones Boulevard.

About 7:20 a.m., police had been called to a condominium complex across the street at 5110 Jones Blvd. regarding a man asleep in a Dodge Neon with a gun on his lap.

When police awakened the man, he started the car and rammed it into a police cruiser before running away while holding a .38-caliber revolver to his head, police said.

Police said Sunday that Walters shot Canfield in the legs when he motioned the revolver toward officers. But according to Canfield's arrest report "an officer shot Canfield when his movement approached a pedestrian resident on the complex."

Police did not return the Review-Journal's calls Tuesday regarding the discrepancy.

In January 2004, Walters fired at a suspect who had shot a fellow officer during a botched carjacking at Paris Las Vegas. Walters later received the Medal of Valor for his role in that shooting.