Julian Thomas Covella helped to rescue Marcus Young from assault, Ukiah, California, March 7, 2003. While securing a shoplifting suspect in his patrol car, which was parked in the lot of a department store, Young, 40, a police sergeant, was approached by the suspect’s male accomplice. The accomplice pulled a knife on Young, and the two men struggled for control of it. The assailant then produced a revolver and shot Young repeatedly at point-blank range, inflicting severe injury. A store employee who witnessed the shooting approached the men and wrested the gun from the assailant, then was stabbed by him. Julian, 17, high school student, had accompanied Young to the scene as a volunteer police cadet. Having sought refuge behind a parked vehicle nearby, he radioed for assistance, then left his cover to approach Young as the assailant gained access to the patrol car. Julian removed Young’s pistol from its holster and handed it to him for his use in dispatching the assailant. Young and the store employee were taken to the hospital, where they were detained for treatment of their wounds, both requiring surgery.
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