A St. Paul police officer tumbled out of a squad car and fired at a man who had just ambushed and shot his police partner, a just-released video shows.

Officer Daniel King was seriously wounded but survived the Oct. 23 shooting by Chue Xiong, 22. Police fatally shot Chue Xiong.

In one video that police released Wednesday, Jan. 9, gunshots and shouts of “Mayday!” can be heard, along with King’s utterances of pain. The officer was shot in the arm and in the back, said Dave Titus, St. Paul Police Federation president.

King is heard saying on the video, “I took one in the (bulletproof) vest. My arm is gone.” Titus explained that King believed he was going to lose his arm, but doctors saved it.

Officer Brian Wanschura, King’s partner who is seen tumbling out of the squad car in one video, saved King’s life, Titus said.

“He was literally feet away from the suspect who was intent on killing,” Titus said. “He was completely vulnerable, in the open and he reacted so swiftly. He took the situation over and saved lives. There’s no doubt about it.”

The videos “show how extremely dangerous and vulnerable officers are,” Titus said. “If this would have been a one-officer squad, who knows what the outcome would have been?”

Police had received a report at 10:50 p.m. Oct. 23 that Chue Xiong stole a 12-gauge shotgun with ammunition from his family’s home on the East Side. An older brother has said he feared Chue Xiong would hurt himself after he took the gun, but another brother said Wednesday that he didn’t know why Chue Xiong took the gun and didn’t think he had wanted to hurt himself.

“My brother was mentally fine,” said Fue Xiong, 25, adding that he and his family don’t understand the events of that night and haven’t been able to get answers.

At 11:37 p.m., King and Wanschura pulled into the parking lot behind Hope Community Academy at 720 Payne Ave., next to the police department’s Eastern District building. They noticed a man carrying what appeared to be a long gun, police have said.

As they drove through the lot with King behind the wheel, Chue Xiong opened fire and shot King, according to police. A grand jury found in December that police were justified in shooting Chue Xiong.

Every officer who has seen the videos in the case “is extremely impressed and proud of how these cops reacted,” Titus said.

“The thing that draws my attention is how quickly officer Wanschura noted the threat and then the speed of his reaction,” Titus said. “His response is what officers would hope theirs would be.”

Video from the school’s security system shows the squad car pulling into the lot and Wanschura firing at a man. Other officers can be seen quickly descending on the lot to help.

In the other video, from a squad car dash camera, neither the officers nor Chue Xiong can be seen. The video shows the squad car hitting a Dumpster after King had been shot.

People on the video can be heard talking about putting a tourniquet on King’s arm. King started putting it on himself and then another officer assisted, Titus said.

King continues to recover and hasn’t returned to work but is in good spirits, Titus said. Wanschura is back on duty.

Chue Xiong graduated from Roseville Area High School and previously had attended college, Fue Xiong said. He had aspirations of starting a business and a nonprofit organization, his brother said.

“My brother was a happy person with a lot of friends,” Fue Xiong said. “He wasn’t the type of person that I think would go and do something like this.”

Mara H. Gottfried can be reached at 651-228-5262. Follow her at twitter.com/MaraGottfried or twitter.com/ppUsualSuspects.

ONLINE

To see a video from the case, go to TwinCities.com.