Mount Vernon officer Mike McClaughry 'speaking a bit more' as recovery slowly continues

MOUNT VERNON, Wash. – The daughter of Mount Vernon police officer Mike McClaughry said on Monday that her dad is continuing to improve after he was shot in the head last month while responding to a call.

“He was speaking a bit more this morning according to my mom and by that I mean a few more words,” his daughter April wrote on McClaughry’s Facebook page. “On average he maybe says 3-6 words per day so it isn't really talking, but he has times where he seems semi-conscious.”

McClaughry is in a semi-conscious state, she said. His feeding tube might be moved to his stomatch soon.

“I brought my bluetooth speaker as well and played some of his favorite music including: Simon and Garfunkel, Aerosmith, Coldplay, Tom Petty, etc. and he actually started tapping his hand to the beat a few times which he used to do when listening to music which was cool to see,” she wrote.

McClaughry was responding to a shooting in Mount Vernon, 60 miles north of Seattle when he was shot. After a lengthy standoff at a home, officers arrested Ernesto Lee Rivas, a 44-year-old repeat felon who has been charged with attempted first-degree murder.

Two teenagers in the home also have been charged. Authorities said police faced repeated gunfire during the standoff.

“Right now it is pretty much the same routine, just a day by day waiting game while his body works on mending itself,” McClaughry’s daughter wrote. “He has been scratching his head and eye and like an ornery patient managed to either pull out his IV or got it stuck and it ripped out. Lol.”