Officer Parete returns to Buffalo
By T.J. Pignataro - News Staff Reporter
Updated: 10/23/07 6:02 PM
Patricia A. Parete, the Buffalo police officer shot at close range by a teenage suspect last December, was released today from a New Jersey rehabilitation center and returned to Buffalo.
The 42-year-old Parete has been undergoing rehabilitation at the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in West Orange, N.J. since the start of the year.
Parete, who can now speak clearly but still has no movement in her arms or legs, was left with severe spinal injuries in the Dec. 5 shooting at West Chippewa Street and Whitney Place. She and her partner, Carl Andolina, 42, were responding to a fight call about 9 p.m. that night when they were shot.
Parete was shot twice. The first bullet struck her bulletproof vest, but the second struck her in the chin, traveling through her body and lodging in her spine.
Buffalo Police Commissioner H. McCarthy Gipson said at a late-afternoon news conference at Buffalo Police Headquarters that Buffalo police were awaiting official confirmation of Parete's return to Western New York.
Parete remains on injured on duty leave from the police department.
Patricia Parete, 42, a Buffalo, New York police officer who was shot two times and nearly killed by a fleeing suspect in December of 2006, has returned to her Buffalo home after being transferred to a specialized rehabilitation hospital in New Jersey to recover from her injuries. Another officer, Carl Andolina who was also responding to the scene, was also shot twice.

Parate is able to speak, but still is not able to walk, or move her arms because of one of the bullets severely damaged her spinal cord. The other bullet hit her bullet proof vest and did not cause any damage. Andolina was shot once in the neck and once in the shoulder.

The two officers were responding to a call at about 9:00 p.m. on December 5, that a male and female were fighting inside a Valero gas station located on West Chippewa and Elmwood Avenues in Downtown Buffalo when one of the suspects, Varner Harris, 18 and lives in Buffalo, fled police. When the officers began to chase Harris, he turned and fired several shots at the officers, wounding both of them. Despite being shot two times, Andolina still managed to give a short chase to apprehend the suspect, tackling him to the ground. 

Neither officer fired any shots. Both officers were shot by a .38-caliber revolver. At least 5 shots total were fired in total by the suspect.

Harris was convicted for the attempted murder of the officers, and could face 30 years in prison.