Officer, suspect killed in southeast Ala. standoff

[April 25, 2009]  HEADLAND, Ala. (AP) -- Officers in southeast Alabama shot a suspect to death after he killed one police officer and badly wounded a sheriff's deputy during a standoff Friday, authorities said.

Injured Henry County Sheriff's Deputy Ted Yost was in stable condition early Saturday, according to a nursing supervisor at Southeast Alabama Medical Center.

Police said they got a call Friday evening that 53-year-old Fred Davis was firing a gun outside his trailer.

He shot Headland Officer Dexter Hammond to death and then fired at arriving deputies before they shot and killed him, police said.

Alabama State Troopers spokesman Kevin Cook told the Dothan Eagle that it was too early to say what Davis' motive might have been.

He said police and deputies from at least a half-dozen communities responded.

"We are a very tight-knit family," he said. "When you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us."

Hammond was the former police chief in nearby Midland City.

[Associated Press]

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