Police Shot by a Mass Murderer: She Survived and the City’s Response Shocked Her. Special Episode. The phrase line of duty often feels abstract, until a single moment changes everything. For former Richmond, Virginia police officer Cheryl Ann Nici-O’Connell, that moment came in October of 1984, when a routine off-duty assignment turned into a life-altering ambush by a fugitive mass murderer. Look for The Law Enforcement Talk Radio Show and Podcast on social media like their Facebook , Instagram , LinkedIn , Medium and other social media platforms.
Now, decades later, her story is being shared in a special episode of the Law Enforcement Talk Radio Show and Podcast, available across Facebook, Instagram, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube, and most major podcast platforms.
It's not just as a story of survival, but as a powerful account of resilience, recovery, and a troubling response from the very city she served. Supporting articles about this and much more from Law Enforcement Talk Radio Show and Podcast in platforms like Medium , Blogspot and Linkedin .
An Ordinary Shift That Became a Nightmare
At just 24 years old, Officer Cheryl Nici-O’Connell was working an off-duty uniformed job at the Richmond Marriott Hotel on a Friday night, hoping to earn some extra income. At the same time, law enforcement across the Richmond area was urgently searching for a suspect wanted in a triple murder and the attempted murder of a sheriff’s deputy. Police Shot by a Mass Murderer: She Survived and the City’s Response Shocked Her. Special Episode. Available for free on their website and streaming on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Youtube and other podcast platforms.
Unknowingly, Nici-O’Connell came face-to-face with that very fugitive.
“I was ambush attacked and shot in the head from three-to-five feet away by a total stranger,” she recalled.
The gunman aimed directly at her temple, firing a .357 Magnum loaded with a .38-caliber round. The bullet entered her face, tore through her mouth, and lodged just an eighth of an inch from her carotid artery.
Doctors did not expect her to survive the night.
“It Looked Like Red Paint Was Being Poured Over Everything”
The moments after the shooting are forever etched into her memory.
“The next thing I know, I heard a loud explosion,” she said. “I looked toward Broad Street, and everything was blurry. It looked like someone was pouring red paint over a picture of Broad Street.” Police Shot by a Mass Murderer: She Survived and the City’s Response Shocked Her. Special Episode. The Law Enforcement Talk Radio Show and Podcast episode is available for free on their website , Apple Podcasts , Spotify and most major podcast platforms.
Against all odds, she lived.
Her survival, she says, was not hers alone.
“I’m here to tell you if it was not for the support of the police officers I worked with, and also the Richmond community, I would not be here today.”
That support, from fellow officers and everyday citizens, stood in stark contrast to what followed.
The Aftermath: Survival Was Only the Beginning
While Cheryl Nici-O’Connell fought through a long and painful recovery, she also faced what she describes as shocking treatment by city government after the shooting. In the podcast interview, she speaks candidly about the challenges that came not from the gunshot wound, but from navigating a system that failed to fully support a wounded officer. Police Shot by a Mass Murderer: She Survived and the City’s Response Shocked Her. Special Episode. The special episode can be found on The Law Enforcement Talk Radio Show and Podcast website, on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Youtube and on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and across most podcast platforms where listeners will find authentic law enforcement stories.
Her attacker was eventually arrested, tried, and sentenced to multiple life terms. Yet the trauma never truly ended.
In 2002, and n
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