‘Marriage is a gift’: Officer shot 6 times in line of duty celebrates the wedding he almost missed

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) - Months after a New York police officer was shot six times in the line of duty, he celebrated a moment that once seemed far from certain: marrying his fiancée.

Buffalo Police Officer Marc Hurst, a nine-year veteran officer, was shot six times May 26 while responding to a domestic violence call – once in each calf, once in the upper thigh, once in the upper arm and twice in his bulletproof vest. He remembers realizing that despite being shot multiple times, he was still breathing and able to think.

“I was still thinking, so I couldn’t have been that bad, as good as you can be for being shot multiple times. I just remember, and I believe it’s just from the Lord, this overwhelming peace,” Marc said.

As he focused on getting out of the house where the shooting took place, another thought crossed his mind: his upcoming wedding to his then-fiancée, Haley Hurst.

“I remember being down on the ground and focusing on getting out of the house that we were in but also being like, ‘You know what? She’s gonna be really ticked off if I miss this wedding,’” Marc said.

Marc was rushed to the hospital, and one of his friends in the police department called Haley with the terrifying news.

“I was like, ‘You need to tell me what’s going on,’” Haley recalled. “And he said that Marc had been shot. I was obviously freaking out, like, ‘He’s been shot everywhere.’”

Marc suffered serious injuries but survived. After six days in the hospital, he wowed his fellow officers as he walked out on his own two feet. Last month, he received the City of Buffalo’s Medal of Honor.

Through it all, Haley has been by his side.

“It’s been humbling and emotional,” she said. “Even when I would go back and forth from the hospital to get him more clothes and everything that week, like thinking about, ‘Oh my God, we still get married in a couple of months, and we almost didn’t.’”

The couple got married Friday.

Marc said surviving the shooting has changed the way he looks at moments that might otherwise seem ordinary from watching his nieces walk down the aisle to seeing family and friends gathered together.

“When you go through something traumatic like this, you appreciate even the littlest things a little bit more,” he said. “I’m just so thankful that we are celebrating our marriage… and my family and my fiancée is not mourning the loss of me.”

But for Marc, the wedding was about much more than celebrating. It was also a reminder of what he nearly lost.

“To see Haley coming down the aisle, I can’t even put it into words right now, compared to what could have been. I’m just so grateful,” he said. “Marriage is a gift. Haley’s a gift… and I’m just so, so blessed.”

Police identified the man accused of shooting Marc as 33-year-old Minhaz Siddiqui. He was charged with multiple felonies, including first-degree attempted murder.