Two doctors are being credited with saving the life of a Dallas SWAT commander who was shot in the neck area Wednesday morning while serving a federal warrant at an Oak Cliff home.

Lt. Carlton Marshall

Dr. Alex Eastman and Dr. Jeff Metzger, both part of a UT Southwestern Medical Center program, join the SWAT team on missions as often as several times per week.

They were at the scene Wednesday, when Dallas police Lt. Carlton Marshall, 44, was shot.

Seconds after the gunshot, the doctors met SWAT team members who were dragging Lt. Marshall around toward the front of the small brick house. They crouched in the grass over the lieutenant.

His airway was stopped up, and the doctors knew he could not get oxygen. Dr. Metzger held the lieutenant’s head in his hands while Dr. Eastman cut a hole in his neck, allowing him to breathe.

“Hang in there; everything’s going to be fine,” they told their friend, who couldn’t speak but who they hoped might hear them.

Lt. Marshall was transported to Methodist Medical Center in Oak Cliff for surgery and was expected to survive, Dallas police said. Lt. Marshall was listed in critical but stable condition in the intensive care unit, said hospital spokeswoman Kathleen Beathard.

As news of the shooting spread, police officers arrived at the hospital to console each other. Colleagues describe Lt. Marshall as a "hard-charging" police officer and a well-respected leader.

"He is a supervisor that wants to be on the front line. He always wanted to be with the troops," said Dallas police Sgt. Roger Rudloff.

The City Council opened its meeting Wednesday with a prayer for the wounded officer, who Mayor Tom Leppert said is a father of two. Dallas police said the officer has been with the department for 21 years. His wife is a police officer and his father is a former Dallas police officer.

Dallas police are praising the doctors for their work. "These skilled physicians immediately treated the officer, saving his life," Dallas police said in a statement Wednesday.

 “I’m not sure what would have happened if we weren’t there,” Dr. Eastman said. “But I’m sure glad that we were.”  

The shooting was reported around 6 a.m. in the 1100 block of Hollywood Avenue, near the intersection of Hampton Road and West Clarendon Drive.

The wounded officer was working with other local and federal agencies to serve search and arrest warrants, federal officials said.

Daryl Fields, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in San Antonio, said that the warrant was issued out of the Western District of Texas, specifically the Waco Division. He would not comment on any details.

“The search warrant remains sealed,” he said.

He also would not confirm which federal agencies participated or led the warrant service, or the nature of the investigation of which that warrant is a part.

Terri Wyatt, a Drug Enforcement Administration spokeswoman, said the team was serving an IRS warrant, but a spokeswoman from the IRS declined to confirm that report. Members of the Dallas Police Department, the DEA, IRS and other federal and local agencies were executing the warrants, said IRS spokeswoman Denise Corcoran.

G.J. MCCARTHY/DMN

Dallas police and SWAT officers wait behind a blocked-off section of Hollywood Avenue in Dallas, where the officer was shot.

Dallas police Lt. Vernon Hale said Lt. Marshall was shot as he stood near a window while other members of the team attempted to enter the home to serve a warrant. A Dallas police officer said a woman fired through a window at police, but Lt. Hale did not confirm whether the woman had wounded Lt. Marshall.

Dallas police fired no shots, Lt. Hale said.

Lt. Hale said a total of five people -- two men, a woman, a teenager and an infant -- were in the home, and that police were questioning the adults and the teenager. Weapons were also found inside, but he did not know the quantity or type.

Some neighborhood residents said the area sees a lot of criminal activity.

"There is so much noise here I can't sleep," neighbor Teresa Gonzalez said. "There are big parties, sirens and cars driving down the street."

Hannelore Balderas, 67, who has lived on Hollywood for 40 years, said she heard two loud booms around 6 a.m. "It sounded like they dropped a trash Dumpster. Then there was a lesser boom," she said. "At first, I didn't think nothing of it."

Lt. Hale said Dallas police have assisted in the execution of federal warrants about 10 times a year and that the department would continue to help out other agencies.

In February 2006, four Dallas SWAT team officers were attempting to assist the DEA in serving federal drug warrants early in the morning when someone inside the home began firing. Four officers were shot, but all recovered.

Staff writers Emily Tsao, Rudolph Bush, Eric Aasen and Jason Trahan contributed to this report.