‘It all was instincts’: Teen girl helps apply tourniquet to officer who was shot

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KMBC) – When a police officer was shot in Missouri Saturday night, it was an unlikely hero who stepped in to administer first aid.

Ava Donegan, 17, said her dad is an ICU nurse which has helped her to know what to do in an emergency.

The teen said she’d spent all Saturday night replaying the events in her head.

“When I was trying to go to bed, it was all I could think about and this morning it was all I could think about,” she said.

Donegan said she was in a car with her boyfriend, stopped at a red light, when she found herself in the middle of a crime scene.

“I had never even heard gunshots,” she said. “So that was a whole new situation for me.”

She said she saw an officer get out of his patrol vehicle before being shot a few times. She said her car was in front of the shooter’s truck, so she and her boyfriend ducked down and called 911.

“Somehow, I blinked my eye, and the cop who was shot was right in front of my car,” Donegan said.

The officer had been shot in the shoulder and the wrist. Donegan said he came to her window asking for help with his tourniquet.

“He told me that it was completely numb and his hand was completely limp,” she said.

Donegan said she helped put his tourniquet on, get his vest off and use his radio to call it in.

“When I realized he needed help, it all was instincts,” she said.

Even though she said it was scary, she was glad she was able to help.

“I’m just glad that he is okay,” Donegan said. “And I think that gives me a good peace of mind.”

Donegan said she wants to go into pre-med after high school.

The injured officer went through a second surgery Sunday and is expected to be OK. The suspect, however, died from his injuries.

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