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Community shows up to support wounded TPD officer

The community wrapped its arms around Detective Jason Picking Tuesday night, who's making a lot of progress in his recovery after being shot in the line duty.

TOLEDO, OH (WTOL) - The community wrapped its arms around Detective Jason Picking Tuesday night, who's making a lot of progress in his recovery after being shot in the line duty.

People packed out Shawn's Irish Tavern in South Toledo Tuesday night, where a fellow detective's daughter organized a fundraiser to show Detective Picking's family support.

From 5 p.m. to midnight, 10 percent of every customer's bill, and 10 percent of all Kyle's tips will go to a fund set up for the family.

Kyle Schaller called her co-workers and customers at Shawn's family.

"We have retired police officers, current police officers, we have first responders left and right that come in here," Schaller.

And as the daughter of a Detective, she also calls Toledo Police family.

"TPD's been family since I was little, since I was in diapers really."

One of those "family members" is her dad's fellow detective, Jason Picking.

"He's known Jason for the last six years since TPD, he helped him out with getting on the department. They've been friends ever since," said Schaller.

She recalls the morning she got a text from her dad, the morning Det. Picking was shot and injured.

"I got a text message from him saying 'I'm fine' at 6 a.m. before I was even awake," she said. "He said 'It was not me.'"

While relieved, Schaller was also heartbroken for Picking's family.

"It's honestly, I cannot imagine how they felt because that's my biggest fear. That he has to go through that, we definitely need to help him."

So when Schaller's co-worker at Shawn's came up with the idea for a fundraiser, she took it straight to the owner. The owner says, he was on board immediately.

"Shawn's is a place where we support our community," said Schaller. "So he was like "Ok let's do it."

Schaller got the word out, and the community responded, showing up with large parties, filling up tables.

"I invited them on Facebook and they were definitely like 'Kyle let me sit in your section,' because everybody's already sitting in my section before I even got here," she explained.

And it means a lot to the officers that showed up too.

"To have the support of the community like this. This is fantastic. Because the family is going to go through heck. And they deserve it. This is something that can happen to any one of us," explained Retired Police Sergeant Carl Stachura.

The event raised a total of $690 for Det. Picking and his family.

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