Waseca police officer seriously hurt in shooting to be welcomed home on Monday

WASECA, Minn. (FOX 9) - The Waseca police officer who was seriously hurt after being shot in the head while attempting to take a suspect in custody is set to return home on Monday.

Officer Arik Matson has spent the last ten months in recovery after being shot in January.

Police say Officer Matson was responding to the report of a suspicious person at a home on the 900 block of 3rd Avenue SE. Officer said the suspect, later identified as 37-year-old Tyler Janovsky, was spotted on the rear balcony of a home but ran off when he saw the officers. He ended up on the roof of a garage when police say he opened fire, hitting Officer Matson in the head.

Since then, the police officer has spent months recuperating, including most recently rehabbing in intense physical therapy in Omaha, Nebraska. 

In the weeks that followed his shooting, his family posted updates on his slow but steady recovery. Exactly six months after he was shot, his family shared a video of his progress.

"There's nothing I want more than to get home to my wife and my family and live the life I lived before," he said in the video.

Days later, Janovsky pleaded guilty to shooting Matson.

Officer Matson was also a volunteer firefighter and sat on the city council in the City of Freeborn where he lives with his wife and young two girls.

Since the beginning, those who know Officer Matson have had faith this day would come. Now, that time has arrived.

Two ceremonies are scheduled in Waseca and in Freeborn. Matson will be welcomed home by community members along the sidewalks of State Street and Highway 13. Supporters will line up around noon on Monday, stretching from Waseca Junior/Senior High School to the Public Safety Building.

People who join the group are asked to follow social distancing guidelines.

Matson will be escorted through the area by a law enforcement caravan. After moving through Waseca, the caravan will continue into Freeborn around 2:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.