Community rallies behind injured Harnett County deputy

Wednesday, April 18, 2018
Community rallies around injured deputy
The community is rallying around Deputy Eric Cook, who was shot in the chest and face area.

SPOUT SPRINGS, NC (WTVD) -- A Harnett County Sheriff's deputy who was injured in the line of duty is now out of intensive care. It's going to be a long road to recovery for Corp. Eric Cook. His family told ABC11 that Cook had his first of several surgeries Wednesday.

Cook was shot in the face and chest late Saturday night. Since then, the community support has been overwhelming.

Shortly after the shooting, a GoFundMe page was created. By Wednesday morning, it had half of its $10,000 goal.

WANT TO HELP? Click here to donate for the Cook family

Then there's the "Team Cook" T-shirts. Proceeds from those sales will go to the family.

The woman behind many of the support efforts is family friend Lindsay Holt. She's also a dispatcher. Holt hears the horrific calls and now she's answering another to support Cook.

"A lot of people don't think about his wife is going to miss time from work. There's a lot of travel expenses back and forth from the hospital. There's food expenses," Holt said. "Things like that, that when things like this come up, you just don't think about."

In Spout Springs, Wing Company and Dunkin Donuts are holding fundraisers this weekend with proceeds going back to the Cook family.