A recently elected West Virginia sheriff was shot in the head while eating his lunch outside a county courthouse Wednesday, the Charleston Gazette reports.
Police arrested Tennis Melvin Maynard, 37, in connection with the shooting of Mingo County, W.Va. Sheriff Eugene Crum, who was reportedly dedicated to fighting the drug trade.
"Apparently somebody just drove up and shot him. That's what they told me. Shot him dead," county commissioner Harry Keith White told the Charleston Daily Mail. "That's from our county commissioner in the courthouse, who was crying when he called me."
Crum had previously been a magistrate — an elected position that is basically a state judge with limited powers. In that role, Crum set up a drug task force and did a "terrific job cleaning up drugs in the county," White told the Charleston Gazette.
He gave up his magistrate position to become sheriff in January.
"He wanted to clean up Mingo County," another magistrate, Kim Aaron, told the Gazette. "I respected that guy immensely."
After Crum was shot Wednesday, the suspect was also shot and then taken into police custody, according to wsaz.com. The Mingo County Courthouse was locked down after the shooting — which comes after the brazen assassinations of two prosecutors in Texas.
Newsbreaker posted a tweet with Crum's picture:
BREAKING: WYMT TV: Mingo Co. Sheriff Eugene Crum shot outside county courthouse in W. Virginiabit.ly/16obFcbtwitter.com/NewsBreaker/st…
— NewsBreaker (@NewsBreaker) April 3, 2013
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