Pittsburgh synagogue shooting: Officer likely saved fellow officer’s life using tourniquet

Critical tools and training likely helped one Pittsburgh police officer save the life of another during Saturday's deadly mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill.

Four law-enforcement officers were wounded in the shooting.

Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich told Channel 11 that one officer put a tourniquet on a wounded officer, saving that officer's life.

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“He had a very bad arterial bleed and that stopped it. That was done by a follow officer with a tourniquet,” Hissrich said.

All public safety personnel are going through rescue task force training in order to best prepare them (police, firefighters and EMS) for emergency situations. Hissrich said about half of all public safety personnel have completed that training so far.

"That's part of the training about officer safety and providing the necessary equipment and tools that they need to make sure that they are safe," Hissrich said.

Hissrich told Channel 11 that his department will take what was learned during Saturday's tragedy and share that with their parents in order to learn.

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