John Taylor was doing the job he loved when, in only moments, he was fired upon and the blood from a lower abdominal wound began choking him.

Moments earlier he had been shot while on routine patrol on Interstate 95 November 17.

“Without warning the driver shot me in a matter of moments,” Taylor said at a press conference this morning, nearly three months after the shooting.

He was shot in the neck, wrist, lower abdomen under his vest and one squarely in the vest.

“The neck injury I thought was the most traumatizing,” he said. “I was choking on my blood. I thought was going to die.”

He thought he couldn’t hear anyone respond on the police radio and he tried to call again before dropping to his knees.

District Attorney Melissa Pelfrey listen as Taylor speaks this morning.

Through his faith in God, he held on as two civilians, Steve Krimes and Troy Taylor, on a business trip to South Carolina, saw an officer down. “They came at the right moment, the right time. Without fear for their own safety they gave me the best aid they could.”

Then two friends, Chris Buffaloe, a Weldon police officer who is also an EMT, and Chris Rogers, an EMT, arrived. “They gave me safety and comfort, two friendly faces. I asked them not to let me die. They didn’t. Those four were the true heroes.”

There were many others who helped him that day, he said, from staff at Halifax Regional Medical Center and Pitt Memorial Hospital, to EMTs, law enforcement and others.

Recalling being put on a helicopter for transport to Pitt, he heard his wife crying. “I remember hearing her tell me she loved me and she would see me soon.”

Taylor still goes to therapy and may require another surgery. “The injury that was most life threatening was the one below the vest. There is a bullet next to my heart and spine.”

His wrist injury, he said, is the one which keeps from going back on patrol and requires another three to six months of recovery.

“The show of support from law enforcement, Roanoke Rapids and all over the state has been overwhelming. I think those prayers gave me motivation to heal. I say thank you to all of you.”

The violation Michael Eugene Edgerton, who fired the shots that wounded Taylor and killed himself the following day, committed was a clear one and while Taylor did not elaborate, the police department has said he was stopped for following too close.

Instead of seeing his shooting as something to keep him from law enforcement, Taylor said, “I’ve been given a second chance at life, a rejuvenated change of life.”

As he lay on the interstate thinking he was dying, he thought of his son, who was 15-months-old. “I can’t die on my son. I want to watch him grow up.”

His wife Kristen, he said, never left his left his side.

Those thoughts and the support he still experiences help him remain positive. “It’s easy in law enforcement to become resentful. We are dealing with people on their bad day. I feel like I have the biggest fan club ever.”

He says the therapy he receives is not as painful as it has been frustrating. “When I was in the hospital I couldn’t get out of bed.”

The difficult task of touching his small finger with his thumb was an accomplishment and now he plans to run in race being put on in his honor in April. “I plan to run in three races this spring.”

Taylor believes Edgerton wasn’t shooting at John Taylor that day. “He was shooting at the first blue uniform he saw. I hope I saved another officer’s family from going through this. I would like to think I stopped an innocent bystander from being hurt, but we’ll never know that.”