Cameron Knight, and Bob Strickley

Cincinnati

Update, 11:55 a.m.: The Cincinnati police officer hit in an early Sunday morning shooting has been released from University of Cincinnati Medical Center.

The police department announced via social media that Officer Kenneth Grubbs was released from UCMC Monday morning to continue his recovery from home.

Previous reporting: Officer Kenneth Grubbs drew his weapon as he was collapsing to the ground and returned fire, officials said. He had been shot in the abdomen by a convicted felon who was on probation at a Walnut Hills apartment Sunday, according to police.

The Cincinnati Police Department revealed more details about the shooting that hospitalized Grubbs and the suspected gunman, 37-year-old Damion McRae.

The encounter began after a woman called police just after midnight on Sunday.

“My boyfriend, he needs to go. He just put his hands on me,” the woman told dispatchers. “He just spit on me. He just threw my phone. It’s just too much.”

She said her live-in boyfriend, McRae, was still at the apartment in the 2600 block of Gilbert Ave.

Grubbs, a veteran of the department since 1998, responded to the building with his partner, William Keuper, who joined CPD a year after Grubbs.

They entered the courtyard of the apartment with 37 years experience.

“Officer Grubbs encountered an individual matching the description given by the caller,” Chief Eliot Issac said Monday at a news conference. “As Officer Grubbs approached the individual to stop him, the individual immediately drew a 9mm rifle he had concealed… and fired a shot striking Officer Grubbs in the lower abdomen.”

Cranley calls shooting of officer an "ambush" and "attempted assassination"

Isaac said Grubbs returned fire as he was falling to the ground backed up by Keuper who also fired at McRae. After McRae was struck, the officers held him at gunpoint until more police arrived.

Investigators discovered that McRae was armed with two guns: a folding Kel-Tec Sub 2000 9mm carbine with an extended magazine and a single-action .22 revolver recovered from McRae still in its holster, police said.

Isaac said McRae was able to fire two shots from the carbine before it jammed. A bullet fired by either Grubbs or Keuper also struck the weapon, shattering the through the plastic guard covering the barrel.

“Officers know very early in their careers that some of the most dangerous calls that they will encounter are domestic type situations,” Isaac said. “For the community, for law enforcement, for us all, we must be vigilant particularly when we are talking about violence in the home.”

Court records show it was illegal for McRae to possess the firearms. In October, he was convicted of trafficking heroin and cocaine, both felonies.

At the time of the incident Sunday, McRae was only a few months into his two-year probation sentence.

Isaac said McRae will face charges of attempted murder and having weapons under disability. McRae remains hospitalized in serious condition, but Isaac said he is expected to recover from the multiple bullet wounds he suffered.

Mayor John Cranley said he visited Grubbs on Sunday at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.

“This was essentially an ambush, and this guy, McRae, just started shooting at cops,” Cranley said. “It hasn’t been long since Sonny Kim was assassinated, and this was essentially an assassination attempt of two police officers.”

Isaac stopped short of calling it an assassination or ambush.

Grubbs has been involved in two other officer-involved shootings.

In 2000, he was among the officers who shot and killed Alfred Pope. Officers were chasing Pope after responding to reports of a pistol-whipping in Avondale, according to an internal investigation.

Grubbs was credited with spotting Pope's gun after the suspect fell. As Grubbs shouted at his colleagues to back away, police said Pope grabbed the gun and aimed it at the officers.

In 2014, he was among the officers who shot and killed Gregory Sanders. Sanders advanced on police with a rifle after he stabbed his mother to death with a pen, officials reported.

“He works in District 4 where we’ve had a number of these type of violent encounters,” Isaac said of Grubbs Monday.

McRae has been charged in Hamilton County Municipal Court. A date for his first court appearance has not been scheduled as he remains at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.

Isaac said body camera footage of Sunday’s confrontation exists, however, a subpoena from the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office prevented the chief from showing the footage on Monday. He said the footage would be released as soon as it was permitted.