A West Virginia sheriff was shot and killed Wednesday near the Mingo County courthouse in the town of Williamson, officials said.

The Williamson mayor’s office told the Los Angeles Times that the victim was Mingo County Sheriff Eugene Crum.


A Mingo County emergency dispatcher said that a suspect had also been shot and taken into custody, though those details could not be immediately confirmed with other law enforcement. The suspect’s condition was not known.

The midday shooting happened on Harvey Street near the county courthouse in Williamson, which is the southwest part of the state along the Kentucky border.


State Delegate Harry Keith White told the Charleston Daily Mail that Crum liked to sit and eat lunch in the same spot each day.

The Williamson Police Department, West Virginia State Police and the Sheriff’s Department could not immediately be reached for comment.


The attack on Crum comes after a series of high-profile attacks on law-enforcement officials across the United States, including the doorstep slaying of Colorado’s prisons chief and the slayings of two Kaufman County, Texas, prosecutors.

ALSO:


Suspect in prison chief’s slaying had removed ankle monitor

Supreme Court rejects call to change voting district head counts


Man charged with hate crime in assault on Sikh cab driver in Seattle