SALT LAKE CITY – When San Juan County Sheriff’s Deputy Kelly Bradford was shot while responding to reports of a suspected gunman, all he could think of was his wife and his not-yet-born baby.

"Kelly said when they hit him the second time, he realized how serious it was," said his father, Cleal Bradford. "He didn’t know if he would make it. He was thinking of his wife that needed a husband and a new baby that needed a father. His thought was, ‘God don’t let me die.’ "

Kelly Bradford survived and held his 8-pound, 15-ounce son who was born Saturday in the hospital where his father is recovering.

"He’s feeling great," Cleal Bradford said. "He was there during the delivery. He’s feeling a whole lot better after realizing how it could’ve been."

The deputy was critically wounded when he was shot two times near Bluff on Thursday while responding to call that a camouflage-clad man had fired on a state worker stopping for lunch near the San Juan River.

Police believe the shots were fired by one of the three assailants who have been eluding police in a massive manhunt since a Cortez, Colo., lawman was gunned down May 29.

The man believed to have shot Bradford – Robert Matthew Mason, 26, of Durango, Colo. – was found dead at a campsite along the San Juan River – about five miles east of Bluff.

The manhunt continues for Mason’s suspected companions, Alan "Monte" Pilon, 30, Dove Creek, Colo., and Jason Wayne McVean, 26, Durango.

Bradford was flown to St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction, Colo. Cindy Bradford chose to give birth to the boy at St. Mary’s Hospital, so her husband could be there. The couple named the child Porter.

"One Bradford went in looking kind of pale and two will come out looking healthy," Cleal Bradford said.

Calls to the hospital Sunday for an update on Bradford’s condition went unanswered, but he has reportedly improved since Friday and was in good condition Saturday night.

"He’s starting to move around a little now," Cleal Bradford said Saturday. "He was hurting. I mean really hurting. He was pretty green and yellow, but by (Friday) he was starting to get his color back."

One bullet went through his shoulder and out his back, tearing away muscle in his back.

"If you’ve ever done any hunting, you know the exit wound is more serious than the entrance," he said. "It takes the material with it."

Residents of southeastern Utah and the Grand Junction area are rallying around the Bradford family, which has been a surprise, Cleal Bradford said.