PITTSBURGH — Dakota Wetzel, the 30-year-old St. Clair Township Police officer who was critically wounded in Wednesday’s shootout in Calcutta continued to make strides over the weekend, social media reports say.

“Dakota Wetzel is making remarkable progress,” St. Clair Police Chief Brian McKenzie said in a video uploaded to the department’s Facebook page. “The doctors all feel very optimistic about his recovery.”

Wetzel was shot in the head during Wednesday’s shooting involving a reported mentally-ill man and police. The incident unfolded when the St. Clair Police Department received reports of a man threatening self harm in the area. Officers found Como located near the Huntington Bank on St. Clair Avenue and when contact was initiated, Como immediately opened fire, hitting Wetzel. A stray bullet also struck and killed Rosalie Martin, 4, who was across the street with her family at the Dentistry for Children and Teens. Officers returned fire and Como was later pronounced dead after being airlifted to an area hospital.

Wetzel was also lifeflighted. He was transported to UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh where he underwent emergency brain surgery. A portion of his skull was removed to accommodate swelling. He remains in stable condition in Presbyterian’s ICU. Wetzel’s mother Kelly kept the public updated over the weekend through social media posts.

“There were a couple bumps in the road tonight but nothing that is alarming to the neuro team. Dakota is continuing to respond by squeezing our hand, giving thumbs up on his right side,” she wrote early Saturday. “His left side is still sluggish but we have to remember that the damage is to the right side of his brain which affects the left side of his body. There was some ‘evolution’ as the neuro team calls it meaning changes detected on the CT scan tonight but we will know more with an MRI. I take comfort in the fact that our son is hearing us and following commands.”

In an earlier post, Wetzel’s mother explained that he was placed in a medically induced coma and that his care team ‘puts the sedation on hold several times a day to see if he can follow commands which he normally can do such as squeeze our fingers, give a thumbs up, wiggle your toes and open your eyes,” she posted. “His eyes are extremely swollen so he has a very hard time opening them.”

Kelly expressed gratitude and grace for the overwhelming amount of support her son has received.

“We just continue to be so appreciative of the overwhelming amount of love and support for Dakota and our family…To all of you, we say Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We love each and every one of you for showing love to our child,” she said. “Dakota may be a grown man but we see our baby laying there in that bed and seeing what he’s gone through is so heartbreaking but we keep reminding ourselves how fortunate we are to still have him.”

McKenzie also voiced thanks.

“This week has been the hardest week of my law enforcement career,” he said. “I want to reach out and thank the community for all their blessings and support and prayers … Keep the prayers coming. They are definitely working.”

A gofundme set up to help Wetzel’s recovery was set up over the weekend with over $8,000 in donations pouring in so far.

The gofundme for Martin which was posted the day after the tragedy neared $50,000 at press time.