A Monroe County man is dead and a sheriff’s deputy is recovering after a shootout during a SWAT raid early this morning.
Sheriff Cecil Cantrell told The Dispatch his deputies were executing a search warrant on the house of a suspected drug trafficker around 1 a.m. today when a suspect in the home opened fire. One deputy was wounded. Cantrell said the deputy, who he declined to name, is in stable condition and will recover.
The suspect is dead.
Cantrell said the name of the deceased and the location of the incident are not being released until all next-of-kin can be notified.
The raid began with a traffic stop between 9 and 10 p.m. Tuesday. Cantrell declined to say where the car was pulled over.
“Basically, we did a traffic stop on a vehicle and he had quite a bit of drugs in there, ice (crystal meth),” Cantrell said. “We talked to him and asked him where he got the drugs, and he told us where he bought them. And we got a search warrant and went down to this gentleman’s house. When we got there the SWAT team went down to the house. When they got to the back door, he opened the door and started shooting, wounded one of my deputies. The deputies shot back. Those were seasoned deputies who were on that SWAT team, and they had no choice but to shoot back. And that person is deceased now.”
Cantrell said the wounded Monroe County deputy “is going to be fine”.
He said the dead suspects’ girlfriend was in the home at the time. She is currently in Monroe County jail.
The sheriff said all information will be released as soon as all family members are notified.
This is the second time this year that a Monroe County deputy has been shot in the line of duty.
In August, deputy Eric Sloan, a 15-year veteran, was shot along Highway 45 after pulling over a motorcycle. Cantrell said Sloan is expected to make a full recovery.
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