A police officer who was wounded in the leg during a shootout with killer San Bernardino husband and wife terrorists in 2015 will be presented with the Congressional Badge of Bravery Thursday.
The dignitary-filled ceremony will honor the officer’s bravery in the Inland Regional Center terror attack that claimed the lives of 14 people.
Officer Nicholas Koahou, formerly of the San Bernardino Police Department, suffered a gunshot wound to his left leg while he and other officers exchanged gunfire with Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, who shot and killed 14 people and injured 22 others on Dec. 2, 2015.
Both Farook and Malik, a married couple, were killed following a pursuit and subsequent shootout with police.
Koahou, a former Marine Corps. officer, took a prone position to try to avoid gunfire while rescuing a pinned-down deputy and continued to return fire after sustaining his injury.
Among those slated to speak at Thursday’s ceremony in the Riverside County city of Beaumont are Rep. Raul Ruiz, D- Palm Desert; Julie Chavez Rodriguez, state director for Sen. Kamala Harris; and Enrique J. Armenta, community outreach director for Rep. Pete Aguilar, D- Redlands.
Koahou was also previously awarded with the Governor’s Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor for his actions. He joined the Redlands Police Department last month after seven years in San Bernardino.
The deadly terror attack that drew international headlines began with the killings at the INland Regional Center.
— Staff and wire reports