Injured Buffalo Police Officer Patty Parete Returns to WNY Parete was shot in the line of duty last December, paralyzed as a result. Story Published: Oct 23, 2007 at 6:42 PM EST Oct 23, 2007 at 6:42 PM EST Watch the story 7 News has confirmed that injured Buffalo police officer Patricia Parete has returned to Western New York after she was discharged from a New Jersey hospital this morning.
Parete and her partner, Officer Carl Andolina, were both shot in the line of duty last December while on routine patrol in the Chippewa District. Andolina was shot in the neck and shoulder and has since recovered. He remains on leave.
Parete was shot in the neck and was seriously injured when the bullet struck her spine, leaving her paralyzed.
Buffalo Police Commissioner H. McCarthy Gibson said he could not confirm that Parete was in Buffalo, but he had heard reports that Parete returned home after landing at Prior Aviation at the Buffalo-Niagara International Airport this morning.
Varner Harris, the teenager convicted of shooting Parete and Andolina, pleaded guilty to charges last month and faces 30 years in prison when he is sentenced.
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.