Police officers lined the outside of the lobby at Tampa General Hospital to cheer for Officer Jose Rodriguez, who was released after he was shot in the chest over the weekend.
Meanwhile, friends of the man who shot Rodriguez say they're shocked.
“Whatever was going through his mind, I can only kind of assume he wanted to make a police officer kill him,” said friend Richard McNeal.
McNeal describes Patrick McManamon as a “complicated individual,” who spent time in prison. He says McManamon was trying to better himself to get his three children back in his custody.
But McManamon told McNeal he recently learned he had terminal lung cancer.
“The doctors told him his condition was really bad, and he didn’t have long," said McNeal. "It didn’t look good.”
Police say another man, Edward King, was with McManamon when the shooting went down, but he was dead before officers arrived.
Officers did not say if McManamon was responsible for killing King, but did say they believe the original fight was between the two men.
Police have not revealed how the two men knew each other, or how the fight began.
The investigation is ongoing.