Injured officer gets messages from Knights
Shay Mikalonis’ uncle says players recorded well wishes
Golden Knights players delivered recorded messages of support to wounded Las Vegas officer Shay Mikalonis on Saturday as he continues to receive treatment for a catastrophic gunshot wound suffered during a Black Lives Matter protest.
Mikalonis’ uncle, Frank Mikalonis, said Wednesday that multiple Golden Knights players recorded personalized messages delivered to Shay Mikalonis at an out-ofstate rehabilitation facility. The players recording the messages included Marc-andre Fleury, Ryan Reaves, Deryk Engelland, Nick Holden and Nate Schmidt.
“The support has continued
to be great,” Frank Mikalonis said. “Shay has gotten continuous videos. Marc-andre Fleury, your goalie from the Golden Knights, his wife reached out to my brother, Shay’s father, saying, ‘Hey we are really pulling for you and we wanted to send words of encouragement.’
“Then she sent independent videos of her husband, Marc Andre-fleury,” Frank Mikalonis said. “Ryan Reaves did it. Nate Schmidt. Engelland.”
The support from the Golden Knights — and the Las Vegas Valley community — means a lot to the family, Frank Mikalonis said, as doctors continue to provide treatment to the 29-year-old. The officer was paralyzed from the neck down in a shooting June 1 on the Strip. Shay Mikalonis is expected to be on a ventilator for life.
His jaw was shattered, then wired shut because of the gunshot wound. Doctors recently removed the wires from his jaw, Frank Mikalonis said.
“He’s in a good place,” the uncle said. “They removed the wires. He got shot in the jaw, so they had to wire his jaw shut, which made for another layer of complications for him because he couldn’t even open his mouth. Now the wires are out.
“Even with the wires in, he was trying to talk through the vent,” Frank Mikalonis said.
Frank Mikalonis described him as being “totally conscious and alert.”
Still, the injuries he suffered are grave, and Frank Mikalonis stopped short of saying the officer’s condition is improving. He said those providing medical treatment are working to teach Shay Mikalonis to communicate using technology allowing him to express himself by using his eyes.
“It has been a very painful, laborious process. Frustrating,” Frank Mikalonis said. “The technology is going to be there. They have to train him on it.”
The well wishes from the Golden Knights players Saturday serve as just
a sampling of a tidal wave of support for Shay Mikalonis, who is an avid hockey fan. The Injured Police Officers Fund raised a significant amount of money for the Mikalonis family through a series of fundraisers in the valley as the clan copes with the reality of lifelong care for their loved one.
The family declined to identify the name of the rehabilitation center where he is, saying only that it is out of state and specializes in spinal cord injuries. The family signed a confidentiality agreement before his admission to the facility.
Shay Mikalonis was hospitalized at University Medical Center for nearly a month before his transfer to the rehabilitation center.
Authorities say he was shot by Edgar Samaniego as the officer tried to take an individual into custody at the conclusion of a Black Lives Matter protest. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Samaniego in Las Vegas Justice Court on July 30. He is charged with attempted murder and battery with use of a deadly weapon causing substantial bodily harm and discharging a gun into a prohibited area.
Contact Glenn Puit by email at gpuit@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Glennatrj on Twitter.