BOSTON – A decorated Boston police officer shot in the face by a suspect was in stable condition at a hospital Sunday and improving after surgery to remove a bullet lodged below his ear, police said.

Officer John Moynihan, 34, underwent several hours of surgery at Boston Medical Center, where he was upgraded from critical condition after he was shot Friday night.

Police Commissioner William Evans said Moynihan is expected to be moved from intensive care within days and make a full recovery.

Moynihan and five other officers had stopped a car driven by Angelo West, 41, as they investigated a report of shots fired.

Evans said West shot Moynihan as he approached the car, and the other officers fatally shot West when he continued firing at them as he tried to run away.

Moynihan was honored at the White House last year for his role in an April 2013 gunbattle with the Boston Marathon bombers.