The Mingo County sheriff Eugene Crum, 56, was shot to death Wednesday at point-blank range while eating lunch in his cruiser, a short distance from the courthouse in Williamson.
Authorities say the suspect, Tennis Melvin Maynard, 37, of Delbarton, came up to the cruiser and shot the sheriff in the head.
Later, after spotting Maynard, a Mingo deputy shot the suspect after he wrecked his vehicle. Maynard was taken to a Huntington hospital where he was undergoing surgery.
Sheriff Crum, who took office in January, had helped organize a task force to rid the county of illegal drug activity, which he described as "a scourge that is touching every family."
Crum had been a local magistrate and a police officer in a nearby town.
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