By Police1 Staff
OUACHITA PARISH, La. — Sheriff’s deputy Cpl. J.R. Searcy was gravely wounded last night in a gun battle with a suspect, according to the Monroe News Star.
Searcy was just finishing up his shift when he and another deputy responded to an aggravated assault call. The suspect, Michael Tanner, was told to put his hands behind his head. As he raised his hands, Tanner pulled out a large-caliber handgun and shot Searcy twice in the head, according to a News Star interview with Sheriff Royce Toney.
Tanner was shot dead by Searcy’s partner soon after the incident.
Searcy remains in critical condition, with one bullet lodged in his brain and the other lodged at the back of his skull. According to the Associated Press, 33-year-old J.R. Searcy’s spinal cord was severed in the Thursday shooting, and doctors were testing for brain activity.