Associated Press
STEUBENVILLE, Ohio — A judge was shot and wounded Monday morning as he walked toward his county’s courthouse, and a suspect was killed after a probation officer returned fire, officials said.
Jefferson County Judge Joseph Bruzzese Jr. was shot near the courthouse in Steubenville, just across the Ohio River from West Virginia’s northern panhandle, roughly 30 miles west of Pittsburgh.
Steubenville City Manager James Mavromatis tells WTOV-TV that Bruzzese was talking after being wounded. He was flown to a Pittsburgh-area hospital.
Investigators didn’t immediately release further information about the judge’s condition or the suspect.
Local media reported that the suspect’s body could be seen lying next to a car at the drive-thru of a neighboring bank. Police said a man who was in the car with the suspected shooter was taken into custody.
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The courthouse was closed for the day as local and state authorities helped to secure the scene. Jefferson County Commissioner Thomas Graham told WTOV that some courthouse workers witnessed the “tragic situation” and that people would need time to process what had happened.
The 65-year-old Bruzzese hears general and domestic relations cases as one of two judges serving in Jefferson County Common Pleas Court.
Bruzzese has served on that court since 1997, according to Ohio Supreme Court records. He was most recently re-elected in 2014 for another six-year term.