Shelby County Sheriff John Samaniego addresses the media at a press conference on March 22. Screenshot by Leah Ingram Eagle.
Two Shelby County Sheriff's Office Deputies were shot Wednesday morning after they came in contact with a suspect after performing a welfare check at a home in the Meadowbrook community.
The homeowner had called the SCSO and stated they thought one of their grown children may have broken into their house at the 3100 block of Bradford Place while they were out of town. When the four deputies responded, they found the back door had been broken into. They entered the house with permission of the owners and came in contact with the suspect in an upstairs bathroom.
"They were conversing with the suspect trying to get them to come out and at that point without warning, they fired upon deputies, hitting two deputies," Sheriff John Samaniego said in a press conference around 11:20 a.m. "At that point the other two deputies got them to safety and maintained the position and negotiated with the individual until he put the gun down and came out and gave up. We have that suspect in custody, so I want to stress to the citizens of Shelby County all is safe. This incident was isolated and the person responsible for it is in custody."
One of the deputies returned fire, however the suspect was not injured.
The injured deputies are currently being treated at UAB Hospital, one of whom was being prepped for surgery. Fortunately the prognosis is that both of them will be fine, Samaniego said, describing the incident as a "CEO of a law enforcement agencies worst nightmare."
Shelby County District Attorney Matt Casey's office will be supervising the investigation with the major crimes case group from Shelby County.
