Deputy Brent Beavers and family pose with Santa Claus at Beavers’ home Friday where he is recovering from wounds received Nov. 28 in the line of duty.

A Madison County sheriff’s deputy injured last month in a shooting was visited this week by Santa Claus and some special elves.

Limestone County resident Ron Dunivant, who has appeared at several local Christmas events as Santa Claus this year, paid a visit Friday to Deputy Brent Beavers and delivered presents to Beavers’ family.

He planned to meet with other members of the Madison County Sheriff’s Department at the Publix in Harvest before meeting the deputy’s family.

“I asked them to let me do it because I’m Santa Claus,” Dunivant said, adding that he most recently made an appearance at Owens School on Wednesday. “I enjoy it a lot.”

Beavers was shot in the face Nov. 28 while trying to apprehend a man suspected of armed robbery in Hazel Green. The suspected shooter, 23-year-old Iraqi war veteran Joseph Scott Shriver, also allegedly fired on Fayetteville Police officer Justin Raby.

Shriver was later charged with two counts of attempted murder.

Beavers was released from the hospital last week after spending two weeks in Huntsville Hospital.