DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. — Recovering from an operation after four bullets ripped through his body Saturday night, Officer Paul “Joey” Kempinski IV muttered three words when he saw his family at the hospital: “I’m so sorry.”

“I told him, ‘What’re you apologizing for? This isn’t your fault,’ ” said his father, Paul Kempinski III.

The younger Kempinski, a patrol officer with the Coral Springs Police Department, is the first in his family to work for a law enforcement agency. He’s also the first Coral Springs officer to be shot and wounded by a suspect. A man accused of robbery fired at him with an assault rifle, police said. The bullets struck his legs, an arm and his side.

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