By Lana Ferguson
Reprinted – by Texas Metro News
Website: https://www.dallasnews.com/
One of the Dallas police officers injured in a shooting in southeast Oak Cliff late last month was recently released from the hospital but still has several months of outpatient care remaining.
Karissa David, who was shot in the face, is blind in both eyes and will undergo surgery on her jaw and teeth soon, her family said in a Friday update on a GoFundMe page. David, 27, will also have various appointments with specialists.
“Money that comes in will be used for modifications to their home, technology and devices that will aid her in living without her vision, and transportation to the therapies and care she needs,” her family wrote. “God has been ever-present in the last few weeks and we continue to give Him glory for her life and her strength and her spirit.”
Roughly $19,000 of the $25,000 goal has been raised as of Sunday afternoon.
On Aug. 29, a gunman opened fire on Officer Darron Burks while he was sitting in his patrol vehicle near the For Oak Cliff community center in the 900 block of East Ledbetter Drive. Sr. Cpls. David and Jamie Farmer responded and were also shot.
The officers were taken to hospitals, where Burks was pronounced dead, Farmer was treated and released and David was in critical condition.
The suspect led a police pursuit into Lewisville, where multiple Dallas officers fatally shot him.
David’s parents asked for continued prayers and said some of the money raised will also go toward David and her fiancé, Josh, for things such as remodeling their home for accessibility, buying new appliances and technology that will help as David adjusts to her loss of vision and to “throw a bigger wedding next year to celebrate all that God is doing and their marriage,” according to the GoFundMe update.
Police officials and volunteers also held a public barbecue fundraiser for David and Farmer last week organized by the Assist the Officer Foundation.
David is a five-year veteran with the Dallas Police Department, according to Texas Commission on Law Enforcement records. She was honored by the Sons of the American Revolution in 2022 for saving a man who crashed into a pole in 2020, according to a post on X.
Before becoming an officers, David attended Evangel University, a private Christian university in Springfield, Mo., according to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement records. A Facebook post asking for prayers after the August shooting said she played soccer there.
This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas.
