14 DAY TRIAL // A female police officer has shown great bravery by pursuing shooters even after taking a gunshot to the face.
Ann Carrizales of Texas was shot twice at close range and one bullet hit the left part of her face.
The 40-year-old cop is a former Marine but describes that her perseverance has more to do with her being a mother of two. She is also a boxer and a decorated officer.
“It wasn’t an option for me to give up,” she tells Today.
“I had to stay in that fight because I am a mom and they shot me and they were absolutely not going to get away with that, because I will do everything I can to come home to my children every day,” she explains.
The incident took place in the middle of the night in Stafford. She pulled a vehicle over at 3 a.m., while three men were inside.
She was shot as she was approaching the vehicle, by a man sitting in the front seat. The car then sped away after the suspect shot her once in the vest and a second time in the cheek.
“Shots fired, shots fired. I'm hit,” she radioed in the incident.
“I knew that it was what I needed to do, to catch these guys,” she recalls.
She first fired, breaking the rear window of the suspects' vehicle, then got in the car and went after them.
“You can’t shoot me and drive away: It’s not allowed,” she comments.
She chased them for about 20 miles (32 km) until a crew from another police department helped stop the three.
When the car was pulled over in a residential area, two suspects ran off. Officials are currently offering a $10,000 (€7,400) reward for their capture.