DEMOPOLIS, Ala. (AP) — A county prosecutor was shot and wounded in rural western Alabama before officers fatally wounded the suspect, a former state trooper, authorities said Thursday.
District Attorney Michael Jackson said a district attorney from a neighboring judicial circuit, Gregory Griggers, suffered a facial wound in the gunfire, which occurred in downtown Demopolis. The nature of the injury wasn't immediately clear, but Jackson said Griggers is expected to recover.
An investigator from Griggers' office and a drug task force investigator opened fire and the alleged assailant was killed, Jackson said. He identified the dead man as former Alabama state trooper Steve Smith.
Jackson said the motive in the shooting is unclear, but he had an investigator on the way.
News outlets report the shooting happened near Griggers' office in Demopolis, the seat of Marengo County. Photos from news outlets showed police officers and a firetruck in a main intersection of the town.
First appointed to the position in 2003 and re-elected since, Griggers is the chief prosecutor for Marengo, Greene, and Sumter counties along the Mississippi state line.
The chief federal prosecutor for north Alabama, U.S. Attorney Jay Town of Birmingham, called Griggers a "dedicated public servant and an honorable man."
"This serves as yet another reminder of the perils and dangers that law enforcement at every level face daily," Town said.
