Forever blue: Deputy injured in line of duty feels for HPD after shootout

HOUSTON – Doctors told Deputy Charlie Scott he might never return to work after he was shot in the head and arm by a bank robbery suspect in 2010.

The so-called "reckless robber," at the time one of the FBI's and America’s "most wanted" for dozens of bank robberies in Houston and beyond, shot Scott before dying in a shootout with other deputies.

"They kicked open the back of the door (of their van) and put roughly 17 rounds from an AK-47 through the windshield," Scott said.

"I was shot on the left side of my head," he said. "I had the brachial artery blown out of my wrist. Also, a piece of bullet fragment lodged behind my left eye."

Countless other local law enforcement officers have been targeted since that shooting, but the shootout on Monday that left five Houston Police Department officers injured was the worst case in recent memory.

"My heart hurts every time this happens," Scott said. "This is becoming all too familiar."

"Law enforcement are human beings just like everyone else," Scott added. He said the shooting was hard on him, but also his family.

"My first day back at work, I had to take my 10-year-old daughter and 4-year-old daughter and physically remove them from the door" so that I could go to work, Scott said.

There are still bullet fragments in Scott's head, but he returned to work three months and a week after the shooting.

"I love serving the public. I love working with my fellow officers," he said. "It’s a very, very, very difficult job, but it’s also the best job I've ever had, and I love it, man."