The southern Minnesota police officer who was shot in the head four weeks ago has taken a significant step in his recovery and is now out of a Twin Cities hospital's intensive care unit.

Arik Matson, 32, left North Memorial Health Hospital in Robbinsdale and spent the weekend in an unspecified acute care facility for longer-term care, according to a CaringBridge web page dedicated to posting updates on the officer's progress.

"The doctors felt we were ready to graduate from the ICU and gave us the ok to move to a longer term acute care facility," read the updated post by Matson's sister-in-law Nicole Matson. "We headed out to our new hospital … and the North Memorial staff had a big send-off for Arik.

"Had his pain meds not kicked in about 5 minutes before our send-off, he would have been more awake to see it, but there's no doubt he knew what was going on."

Tyler R. Janovsky, 37, the Waseca resident accused of shooting Matson and firing his gun at two other officers during a foot chase on Jan. 6, has been charged in Waseca County District Court with three counts of first-degree attempted murder.

Janovsky has a court appearance scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, when bail will be discussed.

Authorities haven't disclosed a specific motive for why Janovsky allegedly shot at the officers, but a search warrant affidavit filed in the case against the violent felon read that he "had discussed his desire and intent to commit 'suicide by cop.' "

Matson, his wife and two children live in Freeborn, 25 miles south of Waseca, where he serves on the City Council and is a volunteer firefighter. He graduated from Albert Lea High School, where he was in the police explorer's program and interned with the Albert Lea Police Department.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482