Deputy Travis Rice was presented the Purple Heart by the Pima County Sheriff's Department after a shooting incident at the Loews Ventana Canyon Resort last year.
On December 11 Rice was responding to a report of a theft at the resort. He later confronted a male suspect to question the man about the incident and was then attacked.
Deputy Rice shot and killed the man as he was being attacked. He received multiple abrasions to his hands and knees and a laceration with swelling to his right temple from the attack, according to PCSD.
"For his injuries sustained during a vicious assault and his willingness to engage an adversary, at the risk of serious injury and even death to himself, Deputy Rice is hereby presented the Purple Heart," PCSD wrote on their Facebook page.
