Hundreds of supporters gathered at SoKY Marketplace Thursday to support a Bowling Green police officer shot in the line of duty.
The Kentucky Fraternal Order of Police and 10 local vendors organized a fundraiser to benefit Officer Matt Davis after a shooting last week. All of the proceeds from the fundraiser will go toward Davis's recovery. A GoFundMe account has also been set up by the FOP for Davis and has exceeded its goal of $50,000 from community donations.
Shawn Helbig, a spokesperson for the Kentucky Fraternal Order of Police, said the community response has been overwhelming.
"This was an attempt to raise money to help him," Helbig said. "He’s a younger fella, so this is a long-term amount of money that he's going to need so we’ll take every penny, if it's a million dollars, we'll take a million dollars. So that's our goal.”
Officer Davis sustained life-threatening injuries and was airlifted to a hospital in Nashville following a shooting last week in Bowling Green. The 18-year veteran officer is in stable condition as he continues to recover. A male subject was pronounced dead at The Medical Center in Bowling Green, following the shooting.
The Kentucky State Police is leading an investigation into the events surrounding the shooting. No timeline has been made available for when the results of the investigation will be made available.
Jessica Woodward, a volunteer at the event and wife of Bowling Green Police Officer, said she felt volunteering to help was a small gesture to show support for police officers.
"Anything we can do to support them in a time of need we try to do within our abilities," Woodward said. "Our Bowling Green community always comes out and supports whenever they can so to see this many people here is a blessing."
