(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. ||||| The Hyde Park man accused of shooting a Boston police officer in the face at point-blank range had a “violent criminal past,” authorities said Saturday, and court records showed he had recently completed probation for opening fire at officers during a 2001 struggle. 
 
 Police said officers fatally shot Angelo West, 41, Friday after he fired a .357 Magnum at Officer John Moynihan, striking the six-year veteran under the eye with a bullet that lodged behind his right ear, in what was called a “completely unprovoked attack.” 
 
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 Police Commissioner William B. Evans said surveillance video showed West firing upon Moynihan after the officer approached the driver’s side of a silver Nissan Murano that they had pulled over. 
 
 “You just clearly see the driver come out of that driver’s side and his hand’s going up as he comes out,” Evans said. “Point-blank he shoots the officer right in the face.” 
 
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 Moynihan, a former Army Ranger who was honored for his bravery during the 2013 Watertown shootout with the Boston Marathon bombers, is in a medically induced coma and remains in critical condition at Boston Medical Center, Evans said. Doctors are worried about bleeding in and around his brain, he said. 
 
 West was pronounced dead Friday night at the intersection of Humboldt Avenue and Ruthven Street where the shooting occurred, police said. 
 
 Boston Police Officer John Moynihan. 
 
 Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley promised a “completely thorough investigation,” and said his office will release a comprehensive account of the shootings. 
 
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 “In the days and weeks to come, as we gather the evidence surrounding this incident, the public can count on a full and transparent account of the facts,” Conley said. “For now, we’re giving the investigators the tools and the time they need to do the job right.” 
 
 The shooting came at a time of heightened scrutiny of police interactions with minority communities in the wake of the deaths last year of unarmed black men in confrontations with white officers in Ferguson, Mo., and Staten Island, N.Y. 
 
 Some anger generated by those shootings surfaced Friday night as spectators hurled insults at investigating officers on Humboldlt Avenue. 
 
 But the Rev. Mark Scott, associate pastor at Azusa Christian Community and a member of the Black Ministerial Alliance and Boston TenPoint Coalition, urged caution in rushing to blame police. He described the encounter between Moynihan and West as “nearly an assassination-style shooting.” 
 
 “We condemn the behavior of the man that was involved in the shooting,” Scott said. “There are rules that would prohibit you from popping out of a car and opening up fire on a police officer.” 
 
 Later Saturday afternoon, the Rev. Miniard Culpepper joined hands with civil rights activists and elected officials at the shooting scene to pray for Moynihan, West’s family, and healing in the community. 
 
 “Lord, we pray for peace right now, in the name of Jesus,” Culpepper said outside a building pocked with bullet holes. 
 
 Friday night was not the first time West confronted officers with a gun. Around 3 a.m. on July 23, 2001, West came face to face with State Police Trooper Kevin Murray and Boston Police Officer William Griffiths during a drug investigation near the intersection of Stuart and Warrenton streets, according to court records and a Globe report on the encounter. 
 
 As Griffiths and Murray fought with West to try to arrest him, West, then 27, fired his weapon, police said. 
 
 “We hear a gun shot, and all I see is the gun right here, right next to my head and right next to the trooper’s head,” Griffiths said at the time, according to the Globe article. West allegedly said, “Shoot me, I don’t care,” according to Griffiths. 
 
 http://brightcove.vo.llnwd.net/v1/unsecured/media/245991542/201503/1075/245991542_4140457462001_150328-hanson-westshooting-3.mp4?pubId=245991542&videoId=4140352943001 [please enter a credit] 
 
 West was convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition, resisting arrest, and two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, court records show. 
 
 He was sentenced to seven to 10 years in prison followed by three years of probation, court records show. His probationary period ended Aug. 12. 
 
 Robert F. Shaw Jr., who was West’s lawyer on his appeal, said he had not heard from his client since just before his release from prison several years ago. “As I understood it, he had not had any issues since he was released,” Shaw said. “I’m just saddened by the fact that something like that happened.” 
 
 Mourners gathered at a home in Roxbury where West was remembered as a barber and new father who spent a lot of time with his infant son. 
 
 “He was a good dude,” said Shawn Washington, who described himself as a friend of 31 years. “I woke up crying.” 
 
 The confrontation that left West dead and Moynihan grievously wounded began around 6:40 p.m. Friday as officers of the Youth Violence Strike Force spread out in the Humboldt Avenue area to investigate reports of gunshots, Evans said. 
 
 Two police vehicles turned on their sirens and lights and pulled over the SUV that West was driving, Evans said. Two other men were in the vehicle with West, he said. 
 
 A total of six officers, including Moynihan, approached the SUV, Evans said. He described their approach as “low key,” and said none of the officers had their weapons drawn. 
 
 “The officer didn’t even have a chance to probably even say anything,” Evans said. “This kid was up in his face firing a gun.” 
 
 After Moynihan was shot, West started to run, turned around, and fired at officers, emptying his revolver, Evans said. Police returned fire, killing West. Witnesses reported hearing about 20 gunshots. Officials did not say how many officers fired their weapons. 
 
 “It’s a tough job and our officers did what they had to do,” said Evans, who offered his thoughts and prayers to West’s family. “None of our officers like to use their firearms. It’s probably the worst thing we have to do in our profession. But here clearly . . . unprovoked one our officers was shot point-blank in the face.” 
 
 Officers pulled the two other men in the SUV from the vehicle and put them on the ground at gunpoint, Conley said. 
 
 The men, Dennis Wilson, 26, and Jonathan Aguasvivas, 22, have not been charged in connection with the traffic stop and shootout, but were taken into custody, officials said. 
 
 Wilson was arrested for violating his probation, and Aguasvivas was arrested on a warrant for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, said Lieutenant Michael McCarthy, a police spokesman. 
 
 A woman who was riding in a vehicle on Humboldt Avenue was wounded in the arm in the crossfire, Evans said. 
 
 “She wasn’t even concerned about herself,” police Superintendent in Chief William Gross said after visiting the woman in the hospital. “She was worried about the officer.” 
 
 Police have designated the Humboldt Avenue area, known as H-Block for the proliferation of street names beginning with that letter, as a “hot spot” because of the high level of gang activity and firearm-related incidents there, McCarthy said. 
 
 The shooting took place just feet from the site where, in August 1988, 12-year-old Darlene Tiffany Moore was fatally struck by stray bullets fired by feuding drug dealers. 
 
 Activists and elected officials said police showed them the surveillance video, which they said showed West firing his gun without provocation. 
 
 “As the police approached the driver’s side, the police officer opened the vehicle car door and was shot in the face by the driver of that vehicle,” said Michael A. Curry, president of the Boston branch of the NAACP. “That’s very clear in the video.”
– 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.