South County : Wounded Deputy Goes Home From Hospital
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Steve Ripple, the deputy wounded in the Monday morning shoot-out with a suspected car thief in the Nellie Gail Ranch area of Laguna Hills was discharged from Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center on Thursday where he had been treated for a minor head injury.
The 32-year-old sheriff’s deputy was hospitalized after a bullet grazed his forehead Monday in the gun battle between deputies and 25-year-old Matthew G. Kaufman.
Kaufman, a fugitive wanted in Nevada for parole violation, led officers on a 5-mile chase from Mission Viejo ending in the gunfire on a small residential street.
The suspect was shot in the chest, and a second bullet grazed his forehead. He was listed in satisfactory condition Thursday at Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo. No charges have been filed against Kaufman, according to officials in the district attorney’s office.
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