Hero among heroes: Milford Elks honor law enforcement, while Webb shares inspiring story

By Logan B. Anderson
Posted 5/23/22

MILFORD — Every person in the Milford Elks’ ballroom stood and applauded Saturday, as Milford Police Senior Cpl. Timothy “T.J.” Webb was introduced as the evening’s keynote speaker.

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Hero among heroes: Milford Elks honor law enforcement, while Webb shares inspiring story

Posted

MILFORD — Every person in the Milford Elks’ ballroom stood and applauded Saturday, as Milford Police Senior Cpl. Timothy “T.J.” Webb was introduced as the evening’s keynote speaker.

Cpl. Webb, shot six times in the line of duty in December 2020, addressed the Elks’ 2022 Back the Blue Gala. Lodges across the country regularly honor local first responders, and it was Milford’s turn Saturday.

Club members worked with the Delaware State Police and the Frederica, Felton, Harrington, Milford and Milton police departments to recognize Officers and Dispatchers of the Year.

Each agency was asked to nominate employees for the two honors. The nominations were submitted to the Milford lodge, and a committee picked the winners. Each nominee was given a medal, while each winner earned the title of Officer or Dispatcher of the Year and a plaque.

But before all the awards were issued, Cpl. Webb shared his story.

“It starts on Dec. 10, 2020. I was assigned to the (U.S. Marshals Service) Fugitive Task Force that evening. We located a subject wanted for attempted homicide. During that incident, gunfire was exchanged. I was struck six times,” he said.

Cpl. Webb was hit in his hands, left shoulder, right arm, right femur, chest and chin.

“I was scooped up by my partner, rushed to Beebe hospital, where they did a great job getting me patched up as best that they could. Then, off I went to Christiana hospital, where I spent the next week in (the intensive care unit),” Cpl. Webb said.

While at Christiana, he underwent numerous surgeries and was unconscious for more than 48 hours.

“When I came to, I had all kinds of questions: Where is this taking me? Where is my life going? How are things going to be?”

Cpl. Webb said he worried if he’d get to play baseball with his son or enjoy long runs with his wife — pastimes that were part of their weekly routine.

His doctors told him that, in the “best-case scenario,” he may be able to run in 12 to 18 months.

However, he said, “I’m not the easiest person to be told I can’t do something.”

After being stabilized at the hospital, Cpl. Webb went to a live-in rehabilitation facility for two weeks.

“I made a decision that I was going to have my life back, one way or another. I was going to play ball, and I was going on those long Sunday runs. That’s what I did,” he said.

During rehab, he worked hard toward his goal, even though it wasn’t easy.

“It was painful. It was soul-crushing. It was like being shot all over again,” Cpl. Webb said.

At the end of his stay at that facility, he walked out under his own power. And as soon as he returned home, he started physical therapy.

Fast-forward four months, and he was running again. Eleven months after the shooting, he ran a half-marathon. Two weeks after that, he completed another. Further, he said both of those races were among his fastest runs.

Cpl. Webb wanted to tell his story Saturday not because he was proud or bragging but because he was just like everyone else in attendance at the gala.

“I’m you. I’m everyone in this room. I am a human being, and we’re all capable of the same things with the right choices. That’s what it comes down to, choices. I didn’t get beat in that parking lot. I was not going to be beat in my own home. That’s the way I kept it,” he said.

“If there is one thing you take away from this at all, (it’s) don’t let others make your life for you. You make your own life with your choices.”

During the Elks event, Milford Police Chief Kenneth Brown, who recently announced that he plans to retire this summer, congratulated the winners and nominees.

He also praised Cpl. Webb for his commitment to law enforcement.

“He did an amazing job on our drugs investigations. It was why I appointed him to the U.S. Marshals task force. But while it was also kind of a bone thrown to him, it was great for us because at the snap of a finger, we’d have nine guys with the U.S. Marshals, so we’ve benefited from that,” he said. “Cpl. Webb is instrumental in our drug war.”

Elks leaders said they worked on Saturday’s event for almost three years because the pandemic forced them to put plans on hold. Christina Eames, one of the gala’s organizers, said the lodge plans to make Back the Blue a regular event.

Along with police support, the Milford Elks contribute to many other causes, including scholarships for local students.

“Last year, this lodge contributed $10,000 in money and $10,700 in hours and travel to veterans’ services, scholarships, youth programs, needy families and community service programs,” said Bruce Howell, past exalted ruler of the Milford Elks and past state president of the Maryland, Delaware and District of Columbia Elks Association.

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