'He's Lucky To Be Alive': Wife Of Deputy Shot In Rancho Cordova Gunfight Speaks Out
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A Sacramento County Sheriff's deputy is recovering after he was caught in a gun battle in Rancho Cordova.
It was a phone call Amanda Schmidt never wanted to get.
"It was nauseating. I felt so sick, all I kept thinking was how fast and how much time do I have to get to him?" Amanda Schmidt said.
Her husband, Deputy Eric Schmidt, was in critical condition after responding to the call for service at a mobile home park in Rancho Cordova. At the time she got the call, she didn't know if he was alive or dead.
"He's angry that it happened, he was going there to try to do something good," she said.
Deputy Schmidt was responding to a caller now identified as 58-year-old Betty Winn Spirk that her grandson, whom she had a restraining order against, had a gun and was inside her home. Her grandson, 29-year-old Christopher Walker, was outside when deputies arrived.
Walker and deputies exchanged gunfire and Walker was shot by deputies. He also sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound and died, the sheriff's office said. Deputy Schmidt was hit in a major artery in his leg.
READ ALSO:Rancho Cordova Suspect Accused Of Shooting At Deputies May Have Shot Himself
"You always think it's not going to be you, it's not going to be you, and then it's you," Amanda Schmidt said.
Neighbors heard the gunshots and captured video showing the deputy being carried away from the danger by his two partners. He and his team had tied a tourniquet around his leg to stop the bleeding. That fast action is something his wife says she and their four kids will be forever grateful for.
"It could've caused him to bleed out had they not reacted the way that he had reacted," she said.
Deputy Schmidt underwent emergency surgery and is expected to be released from the hospital soon. Amanda says he's already eager to get back to work.
"We're really, really lucky and grateful he's still here," she said.
The sheriff's office later learned that the suspected shooter and the victim are not related. They say Winn Spirk was living with the suspect's grandmother at the time. The grandmother was also home at the time of the shooting but was not hurt.
A GoFundMe has been created to help Deputy Schmidt and his family.
