Hi. >> Hey, buddy. Um, can you help me real quick? Can you get a couple more officers? >> What's going on? >> Um, somebody said they're going to hurt my family. They wanted me to hurt kids and I can't do it. >> Okay, >> so I got to do this. On November 17th, [music] 2022, outside the Ross County Sheriff's Office in Ohio, security cameras captured a man aimlessly circling the building before approaching the back door and knocking on the window. After briefly walking away, he would eventually be greeted by Sergeant Cochran. Within seconds, the encounter would take a dramatic turn that Ross County deputies would never forget. >> Hi. >> Hey, buddy. Um, can you help out real quick? Can you get a couple more officers? >> What's going on? >> Um, somebody said they're going to hurt my family. They wanted me to hurt kids and I can't do it. >> Okay, >> so I got to do this. >> Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. PUT THAT DOWN. PUT IT DOWN. PUT IT DOWN. PUT IT DOWN, BUDDY. PUT IT DOWN. >> [snorts] >> You okay? >> No shot. >> You're shot. >> No shot. One who's on the chair. [clears throat] >> Is he gone? >> No. He's about the door. [laughter] >> Yes, he is. >> Keep your locker. Keep your >> Don't no NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO [screaming] >> WHERE WHERE YOU SHOT the chest >> right in the chest I got to get you moved to cover is he down I'm calling for help >> no shot at the chest >> in the chest chest >> right there outside the door >> I'll know shot in the hallway. In the hallway, >> I'm going to rule you. >> Wait, I suspect outside. Suspect's outside. >> I don't know what they look like. He went right there outside the door. I hit him. >> He's bleeding. >> Help me. I believe he's outside. >> Where's your one of our units? >> You got We got this. I got him. >> Yeah, cuffing him. >> I'm standing that way now. Look at me. Look at me. Open your eyes. Open your eyes. >> Hey, squeeze my hand. Squeeze my hand. >> Talk to me. >> Where's he head at? Gallery. >> I don't know yet, buddy. >> I think I'm hit. >> I'm going to look. Okay. Headquarters have EMS start in. We got him secured in the back. >> Eric's inside. We got him. Eric's in there. >> We got you, Bubba. We got you, brother. Hey, we have medic coming down. >> Stay down. Stay down. >> I need back. >> The gun's right here, Dobby. >> Where did he hit him? You see where he's headed? Right there. Hit on the side of the head there. >> Throw him away from that gun. >> Throw him away from the gun. Oh, >> can you get some towel or something, player? What do you need? Can you get some towels to hold against his head on on the left side there if we can? >> Where's he hit at in the head? >> He's in the left side of the head. >> You have any idea what happened? >> Headquarters, tell him to come in. We got a deputy that's shot. They need to get in here. >> He's hitting the left side of the head right here. >> I don't know about the deputy over there. We're going to have to cut your shirt. Okay. >> Headquarters, we need two medics here. One for the suspect, too. I don't see ANY MORE HOLES. [screaming] >> I GOT IT. I GOT YOU. >> KEEP GOING. >> LOOK, GUYS. >> Look at me. >> Open your eyes. >> Look at me. Look at me, bud. >> Keep moving. >> Keep squeezing my hand. >> Okay. There's that one hole in the side. So, you know, that's it. >> Keep breathing, bud. >> You married kids or anything? I >> think he has kids. >> He He got an injury to the head. >> I'm covering the hole. >> Yeah. >> I know. I know. We're not We did find an exit win, but there is a spear ent weapons on it. >> I just I just searched that one pocket I couldn't get to the other side there. That's the only shot I got right there. I couldn't get on the left side. Let me make sure you don't have more weapons on him. >> Ready? >> I got you, Army. >> Everybody good? 1 2 3. >> One more timer. We're done with that. >> Slide. There you go. Had a boy. >> Ready. One, two, three. >> Hey. Hey. Hold on. Easy. Easy. Let me get out. >> I got it. I got it. I got it. >> I got it. I got it. >> Hey, let's get him a helicopter. Can you go ahead and start Jenna? >> You guys in >> Hold on. Hold on. Oh no. God. >> As dozens of officers [music] arrived at the station to tend to the suspect and document the crime scene, Sergeant Cocharan was being transported to the hospital with a gunshot wound to the chest. [music] His condition remained unknown and his survival was uncertain. Deputies on scene had no idea what the next [music] update would bring. >> I I don't feel anything else on him. He's not breathing. >> Yeah, he's still gasping. He went gasping for a minute, but he stopped that now. Stop. >> I'm going to let go. Pressure. You want me to let go? Keep hold on. >> Scoot him over away from the gun here. >> We have an officer shot in the chest. >> We have a suspect shot in the head. >> Okay. Watch your foot back. >> Hey, watch your foot there. Don't step to search for weapons. >> Yeah, we we did a prearch of him. Yeah, I took it as best I could. We got here. >> Can you guys clear out here for us if you don't mind? >> Yeah. We're going to We're going to tape this off here. >> Yeah. >> I'll grab some tape in here, Brock. >> We need to make this. >> I got you right here. I got tape. >> We're almost there. We're going to turn. Hold on. Be ready. We're going to turn right here. There we go. We're almost there. >> Yeah, I had them on him and they took them off when they transported all over. Sir, his body cam's still active. I didn't take time for that. >> That's fine. Um, I'm going to put this in my car. >> We can't walk through. The shell cases everywhere. You have to walk around front. >> Yeah. Watch your step here. >> Oh, this way. >> All up here. The shell cases all by the door. They're right inside there, too. The first casing's up here by the door. So, that's where the first casing starts at that I seen. Anyway, >> got your light. >> Yes. Try that on there for me. >> A Ruger 380 looks like. >> Yeah. >> The suspect, 42-year-old Nicholas Mitchell, who opened fire that afternoon, later died from a gunshot wound to the head. Because he did not survive, investigators were never able to determine a clear motive for the attack. Sergeant Eric Cochran was shot once in the chest near the end [music] of his shift at a time when he wasn't wearing his ballistic vest. Without that protection, the injury was nearly fatal. Cochran [music] spent 27 days in the hospital, eight of them in a coma. When he finally woke, he was unable to communicate due to multiple complications and breathing [music] tubes, a struggle that sent him into a deep mental health spiral. He would go on to survive, but the impact stayed with him long after he left the hospital. Those early days of recovery would later become a driving force [music] behind the creation of the Cochran Strong Foundation. >> Our main purposes will be to promote mental health. The Cochran Strong Foundation is an organization dedicated to providing first responders with accessible, stigmaree mental health support built from Cochran's own experience recovering from the shooting. >> Every day I think about it. I see the scars. I think about it every day. [music] However, now I see it as a as battle scars. I've been there. I've done it. I've [music] I know what I'm talking about. And now I have to fight for the others. >> For Cochran, everything he endured became part of a larger purpose >> in my heart that I was put there for a reason. >> You know what? Most people don't realize about police work. The most dangerous calls don't always look dangerous. I've stood on plenty of sidewalks talking to someone asking for help. And your brain wants to believe that's exactly what it is, help. But there's a small thing cops learn to watch, hands. The man walked up with one hand hidden in his pocket. That's a quiet signal cops noticed. But because of how calmly he approached and what he was saying, the sergeant's brain probably did what any human brain does. [music] It chose trust over threat for one second too long. That's the second everything changes. Because the sergeant is still in conversation mode while the suspect had already made a decision. We even hear him say, "I have to do this." Right there, this stopped being a police encounter and became survival. [music] But after being shot in the chest, he still fought to stay alive. And instead of walking away, Sergeant Cochran turned it into something bigger. The Cochran Strong Foundation now helps first responders quietly get mental health care, even tellahalth, so they don't have to worry [music] about being seen walking into a clinic, even covering costs for volunteers who can't afford it. The sad part is the man who shot him was a veteran fighting his own unseen battle, too. But respect goes to Sergeant Cochran because long after the gunshots ended, he decided to make sure few families have to hear them