JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Two former police officers who were shot in the line of duty spoke Wednesday about recovering emotionally after a Jacksonville sheriff's K-9 officer was wounded in a shootout Tuesday.
K-9 Officer Jeremy Mason was shot in the chin during an exchanged of gunfire Tuesday afternoon with a bank robbery suspect on the city's Westside, Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams said.
Mason is one of eight officers with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office who were shot in the line of duty in the last 15 years.
News4Jax on Wednesday spoke to officers who have also been shot.
"You never actually, totally recover it," said Eric Simmons, a former JSO officer. "You are going to remember it until they day you die.
Both Simmons and John Zipper, who was shot at but saved by a bulletproof vest, said Tuesday's incident bring the memories of being shot back home. Both former JSO officers said they understand what Mason is feeling, and offered him words of encouragement.
Sixteen years ago, then-officer Simmons was shot while in his patrol car by two fleeing bank robbers in Northwest Jacksonville -- similar to what happened Tuesday when Mason was shot. Simmons was shot in the leg, but is much better now.
Simmons, who retired several years after the shooting, said he still thinks about it daily.
"Some days are easier than others," he said. "Some days, you wake up and you immediately go to thinking about it because you have some of the pain as a result of being shot."
Zipper, a former partner of Simmons, was also shot in the line of duty in 1976. Zipper, who's known as just "Zipp" to many people, said he remembers the shooting like it was yesterday.
"Never forget it," Zipper said. "I have dreams to this day and that was 41 years ago next month."
Zipper was one of the first JSO officers to have a bulletproof vest, and it saved his life. But he said the hardest thing for him was getting back to work.
"Every time I would approach somebody after that or have the occasion to stop somebody after that, my entire insides would just shake," he said. "It took several months for that to go away."
Zipper is still doing police work as an investigator for the State Attorney's Office.
News4Jax asked both of the former officers what they would tell Mason.
"I would advise him to keep doing his job. Don't back off doing the right thing. And he will get over it eventually," Zipper said.
Simmons added, "Don't let what a lot of people say to you about what you should've done get you down. What you could've done. He did was he knew was right. I did what I did at the time and we both survived."
In Northeast Florida, the most recent officer who was shot and killed in the line of duty was Clay County Sheriff's Deputy David White in 2012.
Previous 3 JSO officers shot
Tuesday's incident was the fifth police shooting by JSO this year. Four of the suspects were killed.
The last time a JSO officer was shot was in March 2016, when an off-duty narcotics detective was wounded by Kevin Rojas while taking his son to school, according to investigators. Rojas is awaiting trial, and the detective, whose name was never released because of his undercover work, is back on duty.
The last shooting of an officer prior to that was in April 2014, when Officer Andrew Benson was shot and wounded by Donald Goins, who’s now serving a life sentence.
In January 2008, Officer Jared Reston was shot in the jaw by shoplifting suspect Joel Abner. Reston was also hit several times in the chest, but his bulletproof vest saved his life. Reston shot and killed Abner.