Police officer recovering from gunshot wound to head shocks wife with the words, 'I'm OK'

SEATTLE -- Mount Vernon police officer Mike McClaughry, recovering from a gunshot wound to the head, "is doing quite well"  and even shocked his wife by speaking to her from his hospital bed for the first time, his daughter said Tuesday.

In mid-December, McClaughry, 61, and the father of three, was shot in the head and critically wounded while investigating a weapons offense call near Laventure Road in Mount Vernon. The men responsible, said police, were holed up in a home. An hours-long standoff ended with three people taken into custody and charged with attempted murder. Two of them were teenagers.

McClaughry was airlifted to Seattle's Harborview Medical Center, where he underwent emergency surgery and has been in its intensive care unit ever since.

In Tuesday's update,  McClaughry's daughter April wrote on their Facebook page, "My dad is doing quite well still. He is looking a lot better and more like himself every day. He is still keeping his eyes closed a lot (most likely from the fracture of his lower occipital rim) but he is actually doing a lot of acknowledgement and giving us confirmation that he is actually able to hear us. My mom will yell "Michael!" and he will jerk his head back and open his eyes a bit so we know he hears her! We've asked him to raise his right arm and he will do it most of the time.

"The nurses move him to a wheelchair every day and strap him in so he doesn't fall which helps to prevent blood clots in his legs and also helps with his chest and breathing. He continuously moves his arms and legs so that is great to know that he isn't paralyzed and that his mobility is still good...

"My mom walked in today and said 'how are you doing' he actually responded with 'I'm o.k.' which nearly knocked my mom off her rocker. She was both shocked and elated!"