MHP Trooper Palmer returning home

From Montana Highway Patrol

HELENA - Montana Highway Patrol Trooper Wade Palmer will return home to Montana Wednesday.

He is receiving treatment at the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City, where his doctors have determined he is ready to transition to the next phase of care.

  At 11:30am on Wednesday, a brief news conference will be held at the Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City with Wade's lead physician, Lindsey Palmer, Montana Highway Patrol Chief Tom Butler, Attorney General Tim Fox and others. The news conference will be live-streamed on the Highway Patrol's Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/montanahighwaypatrol/.

Palmer, whose first station with the Highway Patrol was in Havre, will be flown to Missoula and is anticipated to arrive at Northstar Jet at approximately 1:30 p.m. After he arrives in Montana, a motorcade will escort him to his home. The procession route in Missoula will be released later today.

"Wade will be welcomed home to Montana as a hero," Fox said. "On behalf of the Highway Patrol, the Department of Justice, and the entire Montana law enforcement community, I want to again share my profound thanks to all who have supported Wade and his family in ways large and small, seen and unseen. Let us all keep the other victims of that fateful March night in our thoughts and prayers as they continue to receive medical care."

"We are absolutely thrilled that Wade is coming home," Col. Butler said. "From the very beginning, he has received the best possible medical care and I know that it saved his life. Words cannot express my gratitude to all of the health care providers in Missoula and Salt Lake City who have cared for him during these past two months. Wade has a long road ahead, but I am glad that he will be traveling that road here in Montana with his family, friends and fellow troopers at his side."

Palmer was shot in the neck, face, and head March 15 after locating the suspect involved in an earlier shooting that injured two and killed one in Missoula. He was transported to Saint Patrick Hospital in critical condition and eventually flown to Salt Lake City to receive Level I trauma care.

In the following days, Wade will begin outpatient therapy as his recovery continues. While the family is happy to share this news with the public, they also respectfully request privacy as they return and adjust to life back at home.