Newport Officer Taken Off Critical List : Law enforcement: Doctors say Robert Henry, shot in head last month, may leave intensive care unit this week.

Doctors at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian said Monday that Newport Beach Police Officer Robert J. Henry, who was shot in the head last month, has improved from critical to serious condition.

“The last brain scan we did showed a lot less swelling,” hospital spokeswoman Maureen Mazzatenta said. “That means a lot less pressure on his brain.”

Doctors hope to move Henry out of intensive care and into a regular room by Friday.

Mazzatenta said the officer sometimes appears to respond with finger movements to questions doctors ask him, but doctors are unsure whether he understands the questions or is simply responding to noise.

Details remain fuzzy on how Henry was shot.

Officers responding to reports of gunfire early March 16 found Henry lying on a Newport Beach street under the body of a dead 24-year-old man, Carlos Caicedo.

Investigators have refused to say if Caicedo died from bullet wounds, but they consider Caicedo a suspect in Henry’s shooting.

The Newport Beach Police Employees Assn. has created a fund for Henry and his family.

In lieu of flowers, people are asked to send donations to: Attn: Sgt. Andy Gonis, NBPA/Robert Henry Fund, 870 Santa Barbara Drive, Newport Beach, CA 92660.