The widow of a slain police officer gave birth to a baby boy on Tuesday – just four days after her husband was gunned down by a suspect while delivering a warrant.
Alex Maddox on Tuesday gave birth to Bodie Allen Maddox. Both mother and son are healthy and doing fine.
The news of the birth was reported by WSB-TV in Atlanta.
The bittersweet news comes just four days after Alex’s husband, Chase Maddox, 26, was fatally shot in the head after a man opened fire on him and two sheriff’s deputies as they tried to arrest him.
Police officer Chase Maddox, 26, (pictured with his pregnant wife, Alex, before she gave birth on Tuesday to their second child) was killed by the suspect on Friday
Alex Maddox on Tuesday gave birth to Bodie Allen Maddox. Both mother and son are healthy and doing fine
The bittersweet news comes just four days after Alex’s husband, Chase Maddox, 26, was fatally shot in the head after a man opened fire on him and two sheriff’s deputies as they tried to arrest him
A GoFundMe page set up to help Alex Maddow and her two children raised over $100,000
The shooting occurred in Locust Grove, 40 miles southeast of Atlanta, Georgia, on Friday morning as the officers were serving an arrest warrant.
The charge was related to a failure to appear in municipal court.
Sheriff’s deputies Ralph Sidwell ‘Sid’ Callaway and Michael Corley arrived at the home first and spoke with the suspected shooter – 39-year-old Tierra Guthrie – for around 10 minutes before trying to arrest him.
He resisted and they called for backup.
Chase Maddox, a 26-year-old married father who had been a police officer for just four years, arrived to help them. All three were shot.
Sheriff’s Deputies Michael Corley (left) Ralph Sidwell Callaway (right) were both injured and taken to hospital. Callaway was hit in the lower abdomen and required surgery. Corley’s injuries were less serious
Maddox was described by officials as a ‘smart young man’.
He and his wife Alex had one son before Alex gave birth on Tuesday.
The young police officer is the only one the police department has ever hired straight out of school.
‘He was a good young man who did a good job,’ Locust Grove Mayor Robert Price said.
‘We just need a lot of prayers for he and his wife and the baby that’s coming into this world without a daddy because of somebody…’ the mayor said on Friday, choking up.
‘We got to pray for the two county officers that’s wounded. One’s not doing so hot and the other is better.’
An autopsy performed on Maddox showed that he died of a fatal gunshot wound to the head.
Maddox was shot three times.
A date for his funeral has yet to be announced, though Alex Maddox has said she wants to attend.
A GoFundMe page set up to help Alex Maddow and her two children raised over $100,000.
Corley’s brother spoke outside the hospital where he was taken to ask reporters and well wishers for prayers.
Both of the sheriff’s deputies were wearing bullet proof vests at the time.
The bullet which struck Corley went through his vest and grazed his ribs but he was not seriously hurt.
Callaway was struck in the lower abdomen in an area which the vest was not protecting.
He required surgery immediately after arriving at the hospital.
The scene on the street where the shooting happened in Locust Grove, Georgia, on Friday morning. Police closed off the entire residential street to investigate
Maddox had worked for the police department for four years and was hired straight out of school
Corley’s brother Wade asked for prayers for the officers’ families and said he felt lucky his brother was not more seriously hurt.
‘Thank God for the bulletproof vest.
‘The bullet went through the vest and caught him near the right side of his ribs,’ he told WFAA.
Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Nelly Miles said Friday night that Corley was released from the hospital hours after Friday’s shooting.
Miles said Callaway was listed in stable condition at a hospital.
The home where it happened is nestled inside a suburban subdivision known as Hawthorn at Linden Park.
There are many families on the street and the streets surrounding it.
At a press conference on Friday afternoon, Henry County Sheriff Keith McBrayer said: ‘You never know when you go to take somebody into custody what kind of response you are going to get.
‘From our information, it was obvious that the individual was not going to go.
The Locust Grove police officer had been called in as backup for the two sheriffs when the man resisted arrest