(CNN) Police officer and former U.S. Army Ranger John Moynihan was honored at the White House less than a year ago as one of the nation's "Top Cops" for helping to save a transit officer wounded in a gunbattle with the Boston Marathon bombers. 
 
 On Saturday, Moynihan, 34, was in a medically induced coma at a Boston hospital after being shot in the face at point-blank range in the city's Roxbury neighborhood the night before. The gunman was shot and killed. 
 
 "He's a strong kid," Police Commissioner William Evans told reporters. "He's a fighter. He's going to pull through." 
 
 On Sunday, after several hours of surgery to remove the bullet from his neck, Moynihan, who had been listed in critical condition, was in stable and improving condition, according to a Twitter posting by the Boston Police Department. 
 
 A six-year police veteran and member of the youth violence task force, Moynihan was shot below the right eye. The bullet lodged behind his right ear, Evans said. 
 
 In April 2013, Moynihan was among officers who helped save transit officer Richard H. Donohue Jr., who was shot during a gunfight involving Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in the days after the marathon bombings. 
 
 Police fired nearly 300 rounds within five to 10 minutes. One round nearly killed Donohue. 
 
 Moynihan and other Massachusetts officers were cited for their "heroic and relentless" life-saving measures on Donohue, who nearly lost his entire blood volume on the Watertown street. 
 
 An officer pressed against Donuhue's chest. Another forced air into his lungs. The wound near his groin was too high for a tourniquet. 
 
 A 33-year police veteran, Donohue was pale and appeared dead as four officers laid him on a gurney. 
 
 "He was essentially dead," said Dr. Heather Studley, who took over his care at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge. 
 
 Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed that night; his younger brother is on trial now in a federal death penalty case in Boston. 
 
 'Never forget' 
 
 At a White House ceremony last May, President Barack Obama honored Moynihan and 52 other officers as "America's Top Cops." 
 
 President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden with 2014 "TOP COPS" at White House ceremony. May 12, 2014. (AP Photo) 
 
 "There are officers here who were in the thick of two attacks last year: the shooting at the Washington Naval Yard and the bombing at the Boston Marathon," Obama said at the time. "On those awful days -- and we all remember them -- amid the smoke and the chaos, the courage of these officers shone through. And their quick thinking and level-headedness undoubtedly saved lives." 
 
 In a statement Saturday, Donohue wished Moynihan a full recovery, reported CNN affiliate WCVB 
 
 "John played a part in saving my life, and that's something I will never forget," Donohue said. "His record of service speaks for itself. Everyone is wishing him well and we know he has the strength to pull through." 
 
 At 6:40 p.m. Friday, Moynihan and other officers pulled over a car in an area where gunshots had been reported earlier, Evans said. The primary job of the task force, also known as the gang unit, is to remove guns from the streets. 
 
 Six officers in separate cars, sirens blaring, were involved in the traffic stop, which was captured by surveillance cameras in the area. 
 
 Moynihan walked up to the driver's side door. A man started to step out. 
 
 'Point-blank in the face' 
 
 "Without provocation, as the driver is getting out ... you can see his right arm come up point-blank and shot officer Moynihan right below the eye," Evans said. 
 
 Evans described the officers approach as "very low key" and said they weren't "even close to having their guns out." 
 
 After shooting Moynihan, the suspect ran, turned around and fired at the other officers -- emptying his .357 Magnum, according to Evans. 
 
 Evans said a middle-aged woman was who driving by at the time suffered a flesh wound in the right arm. She was not identified. 
 
 The shooter, identified as 41-year-old Angelo West, was shot and killed. Evans said West had several prior gun convictions. 
 
 Angelo West, 41, was shot and killed Friday after allegedly shooting a Boston police officer. 
 
 Two passengers in the car were arrested on unrelated charges involving an outstanding warrant and a probation violation. 
 
 "None of our officers like to use their firearms," Evans said. "It's probably the worst thing we have to do in our profession, but here, clearly unprovoked, one of our officers is shot point-blank in the face." 
 
 Officer is 'a tough kid' 
 
 At a news conference, Evans and local leaders sought to allay community concerns at a time when officer-involved shootings have led to protests throughout the nation. Moynihan is white; West was black. 
 
 "Our officers did what they had to do," the police commissioner said. 
 
 The Rev. Mark Scott of the Black Ministerial Alliance of Greater Boston said Moynihan was shot "assassination-style." He called for calm in the predominantly black Roxbury section. 
 
 "This is not about 'Black Lives Matter,'" he said, referring to a protest movement that emerged after the shootings. "It's about all-the-lives-in-the-community matter and it's about the police ... responding to a concern from the community." 
 
 Evans said 1,071 guns were taken off the streets in Boston in 2014, with the youth violence task force and other units helping to seize more than 700. 
 
 Moynihan is a decorated Army Ranger with stints in Iraq from 2005 to 2008, according to the police department. 
 
 He won the Boston Police Department's Medal of Honor in 2014. His girlfriend and family have been at his bedside. ||||| One of the tourniquets issued to Boston police officers after the April 15, 2013, Boston Marathon bombing that killed three and left 17 people as amputees helped save the life of a plainclothes drug officer recently after he was shot, allegedly by a convict out on probation, officials said today. 
 
 The officer, a nine-year veteran of the force assigned to a drug control unit in the city's Mattapan neighborhood, had attempted to pull over a man that Police Commissioner William Evans said "was well known to police" as a drug dealer and was driving with a suspended license. 
 
 "He is out on probation and he is out selling drugs, and that's why he was pulled over," Evans said during a news conference today at the hospital where the officer is being treated. The officer has yet to be named. 
 
 After police pulled over the suspect, Grant Headley, 27, he jumped out of the vehicle, spun around and shot the officer in the leg and ran, Evans said. Headley, who was just released from prison after serving a three-year sentence on gun and drug charges, was apprehended after a short foot pursuit, Evans said. Police recovered the weapon they believe was used in the shooting. 
 
 "The officer told me from his bedside that another officer applied a tourniquet and it stopped the bleeding," Boston Police Patrolmen's Association President Pat Rose told ABC News. 
 
 That officer was Rose's son-in-law, and the EMT who transported the shot officer was Rose's son, he said. "These are our neighborhoods." 
 
 Boston Police Department 
 
 Boston Police received 1,500 tourniquets and began training in their use in the months after two bombs were detonated along the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three -- including 8-year-old Martin Richard -- and wounding 260 others. 
 
 Testimony in the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev detailed the makeshift tourniquets used by first responders and bystanders -- torn clothing, purse straps and belts -- to save the lives of the 17 people who would become amputees. 
 
 The officer remains in the intensive care unit at Boston Medical Center but is expected to make a full recovery, Evans said. 
 
 Mayor Martin Walsh visited the officer at the hospital and told reporters that the officers in his department are the "best in the nation. ... I commend the officers for their incredible restraint."
– In the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing, Officer John Moynihan helped save a life. Now he's fighting for his own after being shot "point-blank right in the face," says Boston Police Commissioner William Evans. Police say a traffic stop in Roxbury spiraled darkly on Friday night: After reports of shots being fired, the Boston Globe reports that six gang unit officers stopped a Nissan Murano around 6:40pm to speak with the driver and two passengers, all male. "You just clearly see the driver come out ... and his hand's going up as he comes out," says Evans of the "unprovoked" shooting. Moynihan was shot below his right eye, with the bullet lodging behind his right ear. Suspect Angelo West, 41, was killed after police returned fire. Moynihan is currently in a medically induced coma and listed as in critical condition. "They worried about bleeding in and around his brain ... and want to see how he's progressing before they make any determination of whether to have surgery," says Evans per CNN. The "highly decorated" former Army Ranger's list of accomplishments is a long one considering his 34 years: In addition to being "active" at the finish line after the Boston Marathon bombs went off, he helped save Richard Donohue Jr., the officer who lost all his blood after his femoral vein was severed during an exchange of fire with Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. He's racked up eight commissioner’s commendations in his six years on the force, and was in May awarded a Top Cop Award at the White House. CNN reports his girlfriend and family are by his side. As for West, he only recently ended probation tied to shots he fired at police in 2001. It's the first shooting of a Boston police officer since Dec. 7, 2013, notes the Globe.