NJ-EMS

Emergency medical workers describe their initial response to the police-involved shooting on Reed Street in Jersey City Emergency medical workers described a horrific scene when they responded yesterday morning to 24 Reed St., where five police officers were shot and two suspects were killed by police.

It was "like a horror movie, very, very stressful," EMT August Johansen said outside the Jersey City Medical Center yesterday afternoon. "There was blood everywhere. . Scary wasn't the word.

Johansen feared for his life when he was rushed into the building surrounded by emergency services officers who surrounded him with their shields to protect him as they climbed to the third floor of the 21-unit apartment building.

"I have kids to worry about, but I was also worried about the officer," he said. "That's what our job is."

Emergency workers were called to the scene at about 5 a.m. on a report of a shooting involving an officer.

Within an hour, though, four more officers would be shot, three of them inside the Reed Street building during an exchange of gunfire that Johansen said lasted less than a minute. The two most seriously injured officers were carried down to the street by police officers.

Emergency Medical Technician Ashleigh Grillot worked on Jersey City Police Officer Marc DiNardo, who was shot in the face and remains in critical condition at the hospital.

There was blood everywhere, she said, adding that it was difficult to give him oxygen because of the face wound.

Dr. Bruno Molino later described the wound as being on the left side of DiNardo's face below the eye, involving the sinus and jaw. He'll need reconstructive surgery, the doctor said.

EMT Michael Saul treated the other critically injured cop, Officer Michael Camacho, who was shot in the neck.

"They were both in pretty bad condition," Saul said. "He was just asking for help, that he was going to be all right."

Molino said a bullet or shell was removed from Camacho's neck and given to police as evidence.

When Johansen reached the floor where the four officers where shot and two suspects killed, he was ordered to drop to his knees by the machine gun-toting officers for his own protection. It turned out there were no more officers needing treatment, but Johansen did see the bullet-riddled bodies of the two suspects on the floor, he said.

"I couldn't even guess" how many times they'd been shot, he said. "There was blood everywhere."