Buena Park : Wounded Ex-Policeman in Serious Condition

The retired Buena Park police captain who was shot by a robber Monday in his florist shop remained in serious condition Tuesday recovering from surgery.

Robert Coovert, 56, was shot in the head and chest when he refused the robber’s demands that Coovert and his wife, Betty, turn over all the cash from Garrick’s Flowers on Orangethorpe Avenue. The robber then took Betty Coovert’s purse and some cash from the store, and then fled, Buena Park Officer Rich McMillen said.

Coovert, who had been in guarded condition since he underwent several hours of surgery Monday evening, was awake and talking Tuesday afternoon without a breathing apparatus, McMillen said.

Family members and friends crowded the small lounge at United Western Medical Center-Santa Ana on Tuesday morning awaiting updates on Coovert’s condition.

Betty Coovert was working with police on a composite drawing of the suspect, who police said has brown hair and eyes, is about 6 feet tall and was wearing a blue flannel plaid shirt and dark pants.

The robber entered the small florist shop through the back door and ordered the Cooverts to sit down and turn over their money, police said. No words were exchanged, Betty Coovert told police, except for Coovert’s refusal to comply. Then he was shot.

Coovert served on the Buena Park Police Department for 11 years, retiring in 1973. Before working in Buena Park he was an officer in Compton for 7 years. The Cooverts have five children, two of whom are police officers in Buena Park and Brea.