West Virginia Sheriff shot dead outside courthouse

A West Virginia sheriff was shot and killed Wednesday near the Mingo County courthouse in the town of Williamson, officials said.

The courthouse was evacuated following the incident and is scheduled to be closed for the rest of the day. A suspect had also been shot and taken into custody, reports WCHS.

Delegate Harry Keith White, told the Charleston Daily Mail that Crum was known to eat lunch outside the courthouse in the same spot every day. A county commissioner reports the suspect drove by and shot Crum as he was eating.

"Apparently somebody just drove up and shot him. That's what they told me. Shot him dead," White said. "That's from our county commissioner in the courthouse, who was crying when he called me."

Justin Marcum, the assistant prosecutor in Mingo County, said Crum liked to eat lunch where he could see a pill mill that had been shut down. Crum feared people were trying to restart the operation. A vehicle pulled up beside the sheriff, so he rolled down his window, and was then shot, Marcum said.

The attack on Sheriff Eugene Crum comes after a series of high-profile attacks on law-enforcement officials across the United States, including the shootings of Colorado's prisons director and two Kaufman County, Texas, prosecutors in separate but possibly connected incidents.