BOSTON — A Boston police officer who was shot in the face and critically injured when he approached a driver who was stopped during a gunfire investigation has been released from the hospital.

Officer John Moynihan has returned home to continue rehabilitation and “the road to recovery promises to be challenging,” the police department said in a statement Saturday on its website.

Moynihan, 34, was shot with a .357 Magnum on March 27 when police were responding to a report of gunfire in the city’s Roxbury neighborhood. He was looking into the driver’s side window when he was shot at close range. Other officers opened fire and the suspect, Angelo West, was killed.

Moynihan had surgery to remove the bullet from below his ear. The bullet had entered just under his right eye.

“In the days after the shooting, John and his family have been strengthened, humbled and inspired by the outpouring of love and support they’ve received,” the statement said. “John would like to thank the medical teams” for his care and the officers on the scene whom he “credits for saving his life.”

Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley on Friday released surveillance video of the shooting “to tamp down speculation and rumors.” West’s death comes after a series of fatal encounters around the country between white police and black men. West was black. Moynihan is white.

Authorities say the 40-year-old West had a violent criminal past with several prior gun convictions. Two men with him in the car are facing unrelated charges.

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