SEATTLE — A King County Sheriff's Office (KCSO) deputy shot while serving an eviction notice in Ballard in March was released from the hospital Friday.

Detective Dave Easterly was shot on March 20 while serving an eviction notice with two fellow deputies at a home on the 800 block of Northwest 54th Street. When they encountered the resident being evicted, there was a shootout in which all three deputies fired their weapons and Easterly was shot in the upper torso.

Easterly was taken to Harborview Medical Center, where he has been receiving treatment ever since. He was discharged from the hospital Friday morning and able to return home.

The wounded detective spoke briefly after being led to the entrance of the hospital, recounting the difficult journey he has made to recover and thanking all the people who helped him along the way.

“I'm not going to make it without crying,” Easterly began. “Most of the blood that flows through me right now doesn't even belong to me. It belongs to the people who were generous enough, brave enough to give me that blood."

RELATED:King County deputy likely shot by tenant while serving eviction notice in Ballard

Easterly suffered extensive damage to his internal organs and even needed a new kidney after a bullet ripped through his own. He credited the staff at Harborview Medical Center for all their work in the subsequent weeks, and specifically mentioned the life-saving measures his two partners took after he was shot.

“Ben Wheeler! There he is right there,” Easterly said, pointing him out in the crowd that had gathered to greet him. Then he found the other colleague. “Ben Miller! If it wasn't for those two I would still be... I wouldn't be at the hospital, first of all."

King County Sheriff Patti Cole-Tindall was also on hand to see Easterly out of the hospital.

“Often police officers in their day-to-day work, it's dangerous, and that happened to our detective here who was doing his job,” the sheriff said. “I just want to say how happy I am for you, how happy I am for our entire community and our sheriff's office family."

Dr. Lisa McIntyre, part of the team who treated Easterly at Harborview Medical Center, said the detective had extensive injuries and took much longer than expected to get off a breathing machine, which led to additional medical interventions during his stay in intensive care. McIntyre said she was glad they were able to see Easterly finally go home.

RELATED: Eviction notices regarded among most dangerous cases in wake of Ballard shooting

“It is amazing and it just reminds all of us that work at Harborview that this is why we do what we do,” the doctor said.

In the March shooting, all three deputies were wearing load-bearing vests. Easterly was struck twice, and the vest stopped one of the bullets. Through the investigation, it was determined Easterly was likely shot by the tenant, not one of the other deputies who fired their weapons. The bullet that was stopped by the vest had specific characteristics to rounds found in the gun recovered from the tenant and to additional ammunition found in the bedroom, officials said.

The tenant, later identified as 29-year-old Eucytus, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to the King County Medical Examiner. A friend of Eucytus told KOMO News in March they owed around $13,000 in rent and had exhausted multiple options for rental assistance.

Law enforcement officials told KOMO News eviction cases are some of the more dangerous types of cases authorities face because "emotions are extremely high because people feel very strongly about law enforcement and someone who’s there to intercede into their space."