West Virginia Sheriff Shot Outside County Courthouse

[The Straight Story]

WILLIAMSON, W.Va. (AP) — An emergency official says a West Virginia county sheriff has been shot and a suspect is in custody.

Mingo County Office of Emergency Services head dispatcher Willis Spence says Sheriff Eugene Crum was shot Wednesday within a block of the county Courthouse. Spence did not know Crum’s condition.

Spence says the courthouse is closed.

Further information wasn’t immediately available.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/west-virginia-sheriff-shot-outside-county-courthouse.php

Mingo Courthouse Evacuated After Fatal Shooting Of Sheriff

The Williamson Daily News reports the suspect accused of killing Mingo County Sheriff Eugene Crum approached his sport utility vehicle and shot him point-blank.

The shooting happened in downtown Williamson right by the underpass on Harvey Street, the newspaper said. Soon after the shooting, law enforcement officers were in pursuit of the suspect near Delbarton. Sources told Eyewitness News the suspect was shot, but the suspect's condition was unavailable.

The newspaper said Mingo County courthouse officials and emergency service personnel were shaken at the scene of the shooting.

http://www.wchstv.com/newsroom/eyewitness/130403_15097.shtml

[we can do it]

1. If only he had a gun......

[The Straight Story]

4. Wel, gonna go out on a really, really, long limb and guess, that maybe, perhaps

the person that shot him probably wouldn't have obeyed any guns since they didn't obey the one about shooting people.

Now I could be wrong - and most would obey such laws because they are different.

But yeah, he probably had a gun but was caught off guard (it has been known to happen as most cops don't walk around with their guns drawn looking all around and waving their gun just in case - maybe they should)

[Laurian]

2. WTF? It's every day, several times a day! I feel like

we're living in the freaking Wild West. My sympathies are with those in law enforcement who apparently have targets on their backs, now. (Of course, there are a few Sheriffs, etc. who are resisting gun safety measures. They reap what they sow.)

[Aristus]

6. The 'Wild West' was nowhere near as wild back in the 19th Century as we are today.

Despite the narration that opens the film 'Tombstone', asserting that wild west towns were more violent than modern-day Chicago or Los Angeles, the truth is, wild west towns were far less violent than we are today, even accounting for per capita shootings and deaths.

In 1881, Tombstone's most violent year and the year of the OK Corral gunfight, the total body count was 3, all of them from that single gunfight.

And despite Val Kilmer's terrific performance as a laconic, humorous Doc Holliday, the real Holliday is reputed to have returned to his hotel room after the gunfight, burst into tears, and said: "That was horrible!"

[Fawke Em]

3. Is all this NOT terrorism?

The shooting of several law enforcement officials in several states is terrorism.

If it were a bunch of brown-skinned men with "funny" names doing this, we'd be back on red alert. But, because the suspects are probably white, people just yawn and change the channel.

[Jamastiene]

5. It should be considered domestic terrorism.

I don't know why they won't do something about domestic terrorism...or even acknowledge it exists, because it does and it's happening a lot more often nowadays. It is infuriating.