An Atlanta fire captain is putting on his uniform for the first time since he was shot during a robbery in Buckhead three months ago.
Capt. Cecil Level told Channel 2 Action News he is grateful to be alive after he was paralyzed, suffered a stroke and flatlined on the operating table twice during his long recovery.
“It was great to be able to know that I am able to get back into this uniform,” the 31-year public safety veteran said in an exclusive interview with Channel 2.
Level, who was assigned to the airport division before the shooting, was cheered by his colleagues as he returned to headquarters on Tuesday, the news station reported. His right arm is still bandaged after he took a bullet near his shoulder, but he’s walking, something doctors told him he would never do again.
Level and his fiancee were leaving a business on Grandview Avenue on Feb. 2, the day before the Super Bowl, when they were approached by two gunmen who demanded they hand over their belongings, according to Atlanta police.
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The fire captain told Channel 2 the men cocked their guns as they walked up to the couple’s car. One of the men opened the woman’s door and held a gun to her head while the other rifled through the center console, where Level said he kept his badge and gun.
“Hey, this guy is a cop,” Level said one gunman told the other.
Level was shot once in the upper arm. His then-fiancee, now his wife, Sierra, was not injured.
“The bullet came out here,” Level said, pointing to his upper chest. “And then when I looked at Sierra, I said, ‘Baby, I cannot feel my arm.’”
He was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he was stabilized, and later treated at the Shepherd Center for the bulk of his recovery.
Atlanta police believe the two gunmen were in Atlanta from Chicago for the Super Bowl, Channel 2 reported. They have arrested one man, Demario Mosley, and the other remains at large.
Mosley is being held without bond in the Fulton County Jail on two counts each of armed robbery and aggravated assault, a single count of aggravated battery and weapons charges.
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