A La Habra police officer injured during a shootout in front of the city’s police headquarters last week was released from a hospital Friday, Aug. 13.
Officer Mark Milward was one of the responding officers on Aug. 6 after dispatchers instructed a female driver to come to the La Habra police station when she called to report a road-rage incident and said she was being followed.
As the situation unfolded, a man, later identified by authorities as Matthew Tuan Tran, 22, approached the station with a pistol. A subsequent encounter with police turned violent.
Tran was killed in a shootout. Milward was injured and rushed to the hospital by fellow officers. The encounter remains under investigation and police have not released further details, including the circumstances surrounding the reported road-rage incident.
On Friday afternoon, officers from several departments, as well as friends and family, greeted Milward outside the hospital with cheers, hugs, and applause.
“It’s overwhelming, it’s so appreciative. I can’t thank the officers enough for everything that they’ve done,” Catherine Milward, the officer’s mother, told an OC Hawk news videographer outside the hospital.
Milward and his family were escorted home by fellow officers, and the department released a statement thanking the community for their support.
La Habra City Councilman James Gomez, who originally informed the community of the shooting, updated followers on Facebook about the officer’s recovery.
Milward, a La Habra native, has been a sworn officer for five years and joined the La Habra Police Department in 2018.
The Orange County District Attorney’s Office is conducting an independent investigation, as it routinely does when there is an officer- involved shooting.
Source: Orange County Register
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