The Plymouth County deputy sheriff who fatally shot a knife-wielding man terrorizing Taunton's Silver City Galleria last spring says he had never fired his gun before in the line of duty until that terrible night.

"Your body just kind of takes over and you do what you're trained to do," said K9 Officer James Creed.

Creed was off duty the evening of May 10 and out to dinner at Bertucci's Restaurant with his wife Laura, a registered nurse, when Arthur DaRosa went on his rampage.

Bristol District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn concluded Creed was "clearly justified in using deadly force" in taking down DaRosa, 28, who had already stabbed to death Patricia Slavin, 80, and critically wounded her daughter Kathleen Slavin before driving to the mall, where he would take the life of a second complete stranger.

"It's still very difficult," Creed said in a quiet voice. "It's something that's going to be with us forever."

Creed said of the 13-page outcome of Quinn's investigation, "It's definitely a weight off my shoulders to hear the final report. It was a pretty complicated incident, so we had to wait. It took us a little while to get back to normal."

Creed shot DaRosa, a mentally disturbed man who had been released from Morton Hospital just hours earlier, after DaRosa had plunged a steak knife into the head of George Heath, 56, of Taunton, a visual design instructor at the Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School.

According to Quinn, DaRosa told James Creed, "You and I are both going to die today," right before the officer discharged his personal .45-caliber Glock.

Laura Creed, meanwhile, was rendering first aid not only to the mortally wounded George Heath, but Sheenah Savoy, a pregnant waitress Heath, a father of two, died helping to save.

"My initial reaction was I need a land line to call 911. Then nurse mode kicked in and I wasn't going anywhere without this guy," an emotional Laura Creed said at a press conference this morning with her hero husband and George Heath's widow Rosemary Heath.

"We've talked about when something happens, he helps and I run. But I wasn't going anywhere without him," Laura Creed said, holding James' hand.

Asked what she wanted people to know about the love of her life, she said, "I don't know if I have enough tissues. I don't even know the words to say.

"I am beyond proud, beyond lucky. He's my hero. He's my best friend. He's amazing, and so is Rosemary," she said. "She has helped us through our healing process more than you'll ever know … The story moves on, but not for us. We won't for a long time, if not forever."

James Creed remarked that one positive step forward he's taking is training a new canine partner named Heath – with Rosemary's blessing.

"I love them," Rosemary Heath said of the couple. "He says he's not a hero, but he is. I know I would not be here today if it wasn't for him. And I'm thankful every day."

Rosemary Heath said she's also grateful her husband's students have stayed in touch with her, always assuring her of the powerful and lasting impact he made on their lives.

It was teaching, she said, that made him "a bright, shining light."

"He was funny. Every time I think of him, I smile. He was a good man. Happy I had him," she said, her voice breaking.

"Every day is sort of a different day. I try to just stay positive and do things that make me feel good," she said. "If I can do that, then I'm OK."