Cop who survived shooting ready to hit streets

Officer Yolanda Shumaker closes her eyes and sees a man spraying bullets at her.

“The offender opened fire on me and tried to take me out,” the Clayton County police officer said Tuesday. “He was aiming directly at me.”

Shumaker will return to the street this week — two months after being shot in the chest. A bulletproof vest saved her life, she said.

On Tuesday, the patrol officer received a new vest and a new motivation to hit the streets.

“I don’t think any of us think we’ll get shot. We all just hope and pray it will never happen to us,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop doing my job.”

On Feb. 27, Shumaker was called to a domestic dispute in Hampton. After talking to the victim, she entered the couple’s Pebble Beach Lane house.

That’s when the suspect opened fire, she said.

“I felt the impact immediately,” the 31-year-old said. “I told God, I’m not ready to die tonight. I’m going home to my kids.”

Shumaker later learned the .357 Magnum round had penetrated through a quarter inch of her ballistic vest and struck her skin.

Shumaker was taken to the hospital while her fellow officers arrested the suspected shooter, Gerald Benn. He remains in the Clayton County jail on charges of aggravated assault on a police officer, obstruction, fleeing and firearm possession.

The bullet had traveled 1,400 feet per second, giving Shumaker no chance to flee, said Ed Hinchey, of Safariland, the company that manufactured the officer’s vest.

“You take a hit like that, you feel it,” Hinchey said. “You’re asking the vest to trap that round in a moment quicker than I can snap my fingers.”

In addition to the vest, Shumaker on Tuesday received a plaque, welcoming her to the “Legion of Life” program. She joins 3,000 other law enforcement officers around the nation who have been saved by ballistic vests since they were created 30 years ago, Hinchey said.

Officers are 14 times more likely to survive a shooting when they are wearing a bulletproof vest, according to the National Institute of Justice.

Clayton police policy requires every officer to wear a ballistic vest when patrolling.

“By the grace of God and a bulletproof vest, she sustained this encounter,” Chief Jeffrey Turner said.

Shumaker was a stay-at-home mom for her children, now ages 6, 10 and 12, before becoming a police officer three years ago.

Every night, the officer says a prayer for her children, puts on her vest and hits the streets.

“It’s kind of bulky, but it means the difference between life and death,” she said.