ORLANDO, Fla. -- Orlando Police Officer Kevin Valencia is still in a coma, but his wife says he is responsive and moving, a good sign weeks after he was shot during a standoff that killed four children. 

Valencia's wife and mother spoke Wednesday, along with Police Chief John Mina, thanking the community and the police department for its support and prayers.

"Throughout this entire time, they've been here to help me smile again," Meghan Valencia said.

Valencia says the doctors are asking her husband to make small gestures, such as giving a thumbs up or squeezing a hand, and he is responding to those requests.

"I know they had said he was expected to live, but he actually wasn't, so the fact that he's moving and responding is truly a miracle," Valencia said. 

Valencia will be transferred on Thursday to a rehabilitation center in Georgia, Shepherd Center, that specializes in this sort of trauma, as he continues to recover. 

"I am just so happy that he is coming back to us," Meghan Valencia said, fighting back tears.

Currently, Valencia remains in critical condition and in a coma, however he is now breathing on his own. 

Valencia was shot on Sunday, June 10, as he was racing to try to save four children being held hostage in a domestic dispute situation. 

Valencia was shot in the head and the gunman, Gary Wayne Lindsey, killed four children – two of them his own – during the 21-hour standoff, police say.

There has been an outpouring of support for those children's mother as well as for the family of Valencia. 

Days after the shooting, Mina and Valencia's wife, Meghan Valencia, said he was showing promising signs of improvements, but either way he will have a very long road of recovery. 

 

 

Costly recovery

A Go Fund Me page has now raised more than $147,000. 

Online crowdfunding pages have been set up for Valencia and his family, who face a long road ahead, and the family of the mother of two of the children killed in the standoff. The GoFundMe pages listed above are not managed by Spectrum News. For more information on how the site works and the rules, visit http://www.gofundme.com/safety.