Greg Griggers, DA
District Attorney Greg Griggers was shot outside his office in Alabama, and the suspect was then killed by police, according to local news reports. According to Alabama News Network, Griggers is the DA for Marengo, Greene and Sumter counties in West Alabama.
According to CBS42, Griggers was “shot in the face Thursday, reportedly by a former Alabama state trooper.” District Attorney Michael Jackson told Al.com, “Griggers got shot in the face and they killed the ex-state trooper who shot him.” Griggers is expected to recover, the newspaper reported.
Reporter Josh Gauntt said the former trooper’s name was Steve Smith. “Smith was shot by a Demopolis PD officer & drug task force member,” reporter Jonathan Hardison wrote on Twitter. Smith was previously questioned as a suspect in the 1996 shooting into the home of a local judge and was terminated after writing letters to the editor criticizing investigators in that case, a court decision says. The judge, Eddie Hardaway, was not injured.
NOW: Here’s the scene in downtown Demopolis where investigators say former state trooper Steve Smith shot Greene/Marengo District Attorney Greg Griggers…Smith was shot & killed by a Demopolis police officer & a member of the area’s drug task force (pics via @Fox6Kelvin ) #WBRC
The motive was not yet clear. “Greene County DA Greg Griggers was shot this afternoon outside his office in Demopolis. The suspect has been killed by police, Chief Tommie Reese said. Griggers has been hospitalized and in stable condition,” reporter Stephanie Taylor of The Tuscaloosa News wrote on Twitter.
t.co/1WNpt6Jic9 District Attorney Greg Griggers, who serves Greene, Marengo and Sumter counties, has been hospitalized after a shooting this afternoon in Demopolis. (Photo of the scene provided by Traci Johnson)
Jonathan Hardison of Fox 6 wrote, “BREAKING: we’ve confirmed law enforcement is investigating a shooting involving Greene & Marengo County District Atty Greg Griggers, one other person involved is dead we’ve got a crew on the way.”
Here’s what you need to know:
Griggers’ Office Went After Mexican Cartels
Greene County DA Greg Griggers was shot this afternoon outside his office in Demopolis. The suspect has been killed by police, Chief Tommie Reese said. Griggers has been hospitalized and in stable condition.
In 2017, AL.com reported that a “lucrative battle against Mexican drug cartels is being fought on the sides of an interstate in three of Alabama’s more rural counties,” specifically citing Greene County has one of them.
The article specifically mentioned Greg Griggers as being heavily involved in those efforts, saying, “Greg Griggers, district attorney for the 17th Judicial Circuit, oversees a small drug task force that has made big seizures from Mexican drug cartels in recent years.”
The task force, despite being in rural non-populous areas, had managed to take millions of dollars off the streets and in property in civil asset forfeiture, the story reported. There is no indication that Griggers’ efforts to crack down on cartel drug activity had anything to do with his shooting, however.