An Ohio judge was shot and wounded in an ambush attack when a gunman fired at the official as he walked into the courthouse where he worked.
Jefferson County Judge Joseph Bruzzese Jr, 65, was rushed via helicopter to a hospital after he was shot while heading into work on Monday morning.
Bruzzese returned fire at the gunman before the suspect was shot dead by a probation officer outside the courthouse in Steubenville, Ohio, officials said
Another man who was in the car with the suspected shooter was taken into custody.
Bruzzese is reportedly in stable condition and was talking before he was taken into surgery.
Judge Joseph Bruzzese Jr, 65, (pictured) was shot and wounded in Steubenville, Ohio on Monday. He was walking into work when a suspect fired at him. Bruzzese returned fire on the suspect and is in stable condition at a Pittsburgh hospital
Bruzzese was walking into the courthouse he worked at in Jefferson County when he was ‘ambushed’. The suspect was shot dead by a probation officer outside the courthouse
Steubenville City Manager James Mavromati said: ‘We’re starting to put this whole picture together, but basically what you have is the judge is going to work, these subjects were waiting for them.
‘He comes up, shoots at the judge. The judge returns fire. We also have a probation officer that was behind the judge. He returns fire as he is shot at. The subject is deceased that he shot at.’
Investigators didn’t immediately release further information about the judge’s condition or the suspect.
Bruzzese was talking after being wounded and is reportedly in surgery, according to WTRF7News.
Another man who was in the car with the suspected shooter was taken into custody. Pictured: The scene where the shooting happened
The courthouse is just across the Ohio River from West Virginia’s northern panhandle, roughly 30 miles west of Pittsburgh.
Local media reported that the suspect’s body could be seen on the ground next to a car at the drive-thru of a neighboring bank.
The courthouse was closed for the day as local and state authorities helped to secure the scene.
Jefferson County Commissioner Thomas Graham said that some courthouse workers witnessed the ‘tragic situation’ and that people would need time to process what had happened.
Bruzzese hears general and domestic relations cases as one of two judges serving in Jefferson County Common Pleas Court.
Bruzzese has served on that court since 1997, according to Ohio Supreme Court records. He was most recently re-elected in 2014 for another six-year term.
Bruzzese hears general and domestic relations cases as one of two judges serving in Jefferson County Common Pleas Court (pictured)