Boston Police Officer Wounded in Eastie Shooting Released from Rehab

BOSTON, MA — The second officer injured in a shooting last month has been released from a rehabilitation facility in time to celebrate Thanksgiving with his family, the Boston Police Department said Monday.

Officers Matt Morris and Richard Cintolo were seriously injured when a suspect in a domestic incident opened fire on police inside an Orient Heights apartment last month. Fellow officers shot and killed the suspect and helped save Morris and Cintolo.

Cintolo, a 27-year veteran of the force, was discharged from Mass. General Hospital last month and cleared to go home. Morris was discharged MGH in late October, then sent to Spaulding Rehab.

In a BPD tweet, Commissioner William Evans called Morris's Thanksgiving week release perfect timing and an "extra reason to be thankful.”

Police previously shared a harrowing account of the shooting, during which the shooter put a bullet through an artery in Morris's leg.

According to Evans, a SWAT officer put his hand into Morris's wound to stop the bleeding and applied a tourniquet. Evans said the department didn't require officers to carry tourniquets until after the Boston Marathon bombing. Additionally, he said, the officer in question had undergone additional training on using it less than one week earlier.

"You talk about a coincidence really paying off for us," Evans said, of the timing.

Morris's recovery is additionally thanks to the work of surgeons and doctors at MGH, to blood donors, and to those who helped him at Spaulding.

“I’m lucky to be here and there are a lot of people to thank for keeping me here," Morris said of his release this week, according to BPD. "To everybody - I say thank you."

Read more:

Gunman in East Boston Police Shooting: What We Know

Horror and Heroism: Timeline of East Boston Police Shooting

East Boston Police Shooting: Injured Officers Identified

Photos via Boston Police Department