An emotional Daniel Clark spoke to the media for the first time Tuesday about the shooting last month that mortally wounded his partner.

"I would like to thank God, because I am only here by his grace," the 28-year-old six-year veteran of the Winston-Salem Police Department told members of the media gathered at the Public Safety Center. "Everything I know happens for a reason. There is a plan that I'm not meant to understand."

Clark survived a gunshot wound to his neck and fired the shots that killed 35-year-old Monte Evans. Police said Evans shot Clark's partner, Sgt. Mickey Hutchens, outside the Bojangles' restaurant on Peters Creek Parkway on Oct. 7.

Hutchens and Clark were rushed to Wake Forest University Baptist Medical. Clark was released two days after the shooting. Hutchens died five days later.