KERNERSVILLE, N.C. (WGHP) — A man accused of shooting a Kernersville police officer in February 2021 has been indicted.
According to the News and Record, Quinton Donnell Blocker, 39, of High Point, was indicted by a grand jury on the following charges: attempted first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, inflicting serious injury and assault with a firearm on a law enforcement officer.
He was also indicted on a charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and as a "habitual felon."
He allegedly Sean Houle in February 2021. According to police after it happened, Houle was shot in the face, arm and hand with his own gun, that Blocker is accused of stealing.
Blocker is awaiting sentencing on two federal charges that he pleaded guilty to in April: possession of a firearm by a felon and possession of a stolen firearm. His sentencing is scheduled for July 29. He is currently in the Forsyth County jail and his bond is $1 million, according to the News and Record.
He said on the night he was shot, he was giving another person a ride home when he attempted to arrest a suspect he saw that was known to KPD.
A struggle ensued.
“I’m yelling in my head. ‘No,’ you know, like, ‘no, this can’t happen this way. It’s not supposed to happen this way,’” Houle said. “It’s like, I’m there that night and I’m kind of just hovering above myself and I’m just, I’m seeing, you know, things unfold and I’m seeing me laying there.”
A few months after the shooting, he said his faith and the desire to get back to his family kept him going.
“I’m not going to be the guy who they look at me and they hear me talk angrily about the situation or express hate toward a person or anybody about the situation,” Houle said. “That would do the opposite of what’s been done, that would undo everything that’s been done.”
Doctors at the time said Houle had a “unicorn-style” injury, and that the projection of the bullet caused a rare style of injury.
Houle and his K9 Jax both retired at the end of 2021, but Houle says he found a new purpose: telling his story about his brush with death to other officers at different police departments around the country.
The class is called “Leading in the Trenches." Houle goes around to different police departments to tell his story. "The story is a big part of it because what we’re also trying to instill is that life is short, and we need to really be intentional about where we place things in order in our life," he said.
In the wake of his shooting and recovery, Sean Houle has become a staunch advocate for donating blood, holding multiple blood drives in the year and a half since he was hurt.
“You can look at that bag knowing that that bag right there is going to save someone’s life one day. It saved mine, and I needed it,” Houle said ahead of a blood drive held for the anniversary of the shooting back in March.
You can read our full coverage of Sean’s inspiring recovery here.
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