Former Philadelphia Cop to Share Story of Recovery During Victims Ceremony in Gloucester County

Former Philadelphia Police Department Officer Don McMullin will discuss his ordeal and recovery after he was shot in the head during a 1991 car stop during the fourth annual Victims Remembrance Ceremony, sponsored by the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office, on Wednesday.

Now a physical therapist in South Jersey, McMullin was on patrol in the early morning with his twin brother and fellow officer in a drug-infested part of Philadelphia when the shooting occurred.

A bullet fired close-range from a window of the stopped vehicle struck McMullin in the temple. Rushed to a nearby hospital by his brother, he spent weeks in an induced coma and then underwent lengthy rehabilitation to regain his ability to walk and relearn some cognitive skills. The bullet also severed an optic nerve of one eye.

Following his rehabilitation, McMullin was inspired to become a physical therapist. He graduated from Harcum College in 1996, and he received his bachelor’s degree in health care studies from Thomas Jefferson University in 2004.

The ceremony begins at 4 p.m. outside the Gloucester County Justice Complex on Hunter Street in Woodbury. A garden of stones in front of the GCPO office, each bearing the name of a Gloucester County victim of violence, will be rededicated during the ceremony. The garden recalls a Jewish practice of placing small stones on a grave marker during cemetery visits.

“The remembrance Garden is a permanent memorial for the families who have suffered so much and a reminder for us in law enforcement that serving our crime victims must be our highest priority,” Gloucester County Prosecutor Sean F. Dalton said.

State Sen. President Stephen Sweeney will also speak.